Sakurasensei
by Shockinblue
Summary: Sakura Haruno; genin, chuunin, jounin, Tsunade’s apprentice, excellent medical ninja... sensei? Let’s see if Sakura is cut out to teach the next generation.
1. Becoming a Sensei

Sakura-sensei

Author: Shockinblue

Rating: T

Genre: Humor/Slice of Life

Summary: Sakura Haruno; genin, chuunin, jounin, Tsunade's apprentice, excellent medical ninja... sensei? Let's see if Sakura is cut out to teach the next generation.

Author's Note: I've always wanted to do sensei-story.

----

Sakura Haruno started out as a genin who was interested in boys. Two years down the road, she grew out of her childish ways and became a chuunin. At the same time, she was apprenticed by Tsunade – the godaime Hokage – and learned medical jutsus. And chakra-enhanced monstrous strength – not that her regular strength was monstrous as it was, but who doesn't love to shatter the ground with their index finger?

Fast forward a decade or so, and Sakura is at her prime; jounin, but possessing the ability to become an ANBU operative, and the head of Konoha's Hospital staff. At the age of twenty-six, life couldn't get any better for Sakura. But the world had other plans for her. Before the sun was up on a Monday morning, Sakura arrived at Tsunade's office for an appointment.

"Sakura, it's spring, and as you know the students at the academy have become genin," Tsunade said as soon as Sakura entered the office.

"Of course, Tsunade, but what does that have to do with me?" Sakura asked. Even though she's very intelligent, she can still be a little slow.

"Haruno Sakura, as of today you are a sensei who will take three new genins under your care to train and watch over them," Tsunade stated in all seriousness. She stared at Sakura's form, which seemed to have frozen. It took a good minute of two for everything to sink into Sakura's brain. After processing the new information she simply nodded.

"Sakura, you are expected to arrive at the academy at 8 AM sharp," Tsunade studied Sakura's face, " and don't worry so much, some of the other Konoha 12 will be there too." Tsunade smiled, pleased with the torture she was bringing down on the "Konoha 12", which consisted of genins from Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai's teams back in the day.

Sakura nodded once more before leaving the office and the tower. She continued to walk down the streets, still feeling a little numb. Along the way she passed by a giant oak tree in the park where the old Team 8 was situated. "Oi, Sakura!" Kiba called out to her. She stopped in her tracks, turned, and walked towards them.

Hinata looked at her friend and decided to voice her opinions, "Sakura, are you okay?" The stuttering no longer evident in her voice, it's been missing for years. Even Shino seemed concerned about Sakura's health. Sakura stood and stared at a spot, almost like she was zoning out. After a minute or two, she looked at Hinata and said, "I'm going to be a sensei tomorrow."

Everyone's eyes widened a fraction, and then they gave their congratulations to the stunned girl. "You got the news too? I'm going to be a teacher too, man did that surprise me," Kiba said while patting her on the back, "I was so stunned, Akamaru almost had to bite me to wake me up."

Sakura smiled, "So she got you too? I never thought of you as a sensei type."

Kiba returned the smile in the form of a smirk, "There haven't been any S or A-rank missions lately, so I thought I'd give teaching a try. Besides, if something big ever comes up and I was needed, Tsunade would pull me out from teaching for a while."

Sakura was pretty sure that applied to her too, she hoped. She added in as an afterthought, "Is anyone else becoming senseis?"

"Tenten is, but she's teaching at the academy as a Weapons instructor," Hinata said, "And I think Chouji, Lee and Neji are teaching like you and Kiba."

"I can't help but feel sorry for Lee's future team of genins. Two green spandex suits are enough," Kiba said, pulling a face and then laughing. Even Shino chuckled. The four chatted for a while longer before it was time for them to part ways.

Sakura continued walking, and along the way she decided to pay a visit to Kakashi, in order to get some advice. Fortunately, she managed to find him coming out from the bookstore. She ran up to him and greeted him; "Kakashi-sensei!" she said.

"Oh, Sakura; it's been a while since I've seen you," Kakashi greeted. They walked down the road towards Ichiraku Ramen. Once they were seated in the little stand and ordered, Sakura decided to start asking questions.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to be a sensei just like you tomorrow," she stated.

"Is that so? Did you come looking for me for advice on how to deal with the little brats?" Kakashi asked.

"Actually, yes; what did you think when you first found out you'd be teaching Team Seven?" she asked.

"I told you back then, didn't I? I didn't like you guys at first," he told in all honesty.

"That was when you met us, I'm asking about when you knew about your team from the Sandaime Hokage," she told him.

"Oh, I was quite fascinated; Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. They were quite the opposites, I wanted to see their bond," he told her honestly.

"What about me?!" she asked, a little taken back that he only cared about the boys.

"Well, I thought: girls her age are probably more interested in boys than ninja training," he said.

"Oh," was all she could come up with.

Time passed as they ate their ramen; well, Sakura ate... Kakashi read his novel.

"I know you started liking us after the test we did, do you think I should do the same test to my new team tomorrow?" she asked him.

"That's up to you, but you'll have to get your own bells," he told her without removing his eyes from the novel.

"Al right, any last-minute advice you can give me?" Sakura asked after paying for her meal.

"Hmm, know your students, invest in all of them; don't neglect any of them, and expect the impossible," he said, just as she was getting up.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," she smiled and Kakashi nodded, "You still have to show up for your physical exam next week though."

Kakashi's face (or what was visible of it) paled slightly. He nodded and poof-ed out of the shop. Sakura thanked Ayame and the old man, and then left for home.


	2. Damn Brats

Sakura-sensei

Chapter: 2

Author: Shockinblue

Rating: T

Genre: Humor/Slice of Life

Summary: Sakura Haruno; genin, chuunin, jounin, Tsunade's apprentice, excellent medical ninja... sensei? Let's see if Sakura is cut out to teach the next generation.

Author's Note: Aw man. I haven't updated since February. But I'll start updating weekly hopefully. Let's hope it works out. Haha.

--

Sakura arrived at her with just enough time to shower and change her clothes before the hospital called her; an ANBU team returned twenty minutes ago and two of the four had severe injuries. She immediately dashed to the hospital to treat the injured.

Unfortunately one surgery led to another and she didn't get to leave till midnight. Retiring for the evening, she sluggishly left the hospital and made the walk back to her apartment. After another shower and a good night's rest, she'll be meeting her new students. Before even thinking about how to introduce herself, she was already in a deep sleep.

Sakura's alarm rang at exactly 6AM, the ring piercing her ears. Another alarm went off a minute later; this time it was on her work desk. The third alarm went off another minute after the second; this time it was on her shelf. She always figured if she was just going to destroy another alarm within reaching range, she should put them somewhere that forces her to get up, go to it, and kill it with a push of a finger.

Of course, that's exactly what Sakura had in mind before she realized that she would be a teacher in just two short hours. Pushing herself to the bathroom, she prepared herself for the best and worst of today. Double-checking the mirror to make sure she looked presentable and authoritative (maybe not too authoritative like Ibiki-san…), she headed out the door. At the same time, Naruto stepped outside of his apartment on the other side of the street and he waved to his best friend.

"Sakura! GOOD MORNING!" he shouted from across the street.

The two met up on the empty street (save for the civilians opening up their shop and making preparations) and Sakura greeted Naruto.

"Hey Sakura, guess what? I'm going to be a sensei today! Tsunade says it's part of my training to become Hokage," that's right, Naruto is the next in line to become Hokage... training non-stop in many techniques a Hokage should know. Too bad he couldn't learn Tsunade's (and Sakura's) monstrous strength.

"Oh, that's great. I am too, and so are Kiba, Neji, Lee, and Chouji," Sakura told him, as the excitement began to build.

They agreed to have breakfast before going to the Academy. By tradition they made their way to Ichiraku Ramen and ordered ramen (Naruto ordered a lot of ramen). Seven bowls later (six of them were his) and they were on their way to the Academy. There they met up with the others and then with Iruka-sensei.

In the staff room the jounins gathered to discuss the teams they would undertake.

"Now then, here are the files of the students; their progress, grades, whatever academic results they've made at the Academy. Their background files you'll have to dig up on your own at the Tower before you meet up with them after lunch," Iruka said, placing folders on the tables.

The jounins; Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Neji, Lee, and Chouji, started by grabbing the files closest to them. They compared all the students together and chose them based on their compatibility in skills (one has a skill that his teammates lack).

"Hey. Look at this kid; his grades are really poor," Naruto said. Chouji looked at the same child's profile and told Naruto, "But that doesn't mean that he's not smart. Remember Shikamaru; he couldn't so much as bother to lift his head to do a simple quiz."

Iruka took a look at the same profile, "Oh yes, Mizashi-kun, indeed he's lazy and it's true that he has never picked up a pencil and has opted to sleep through class. But he has passed the technique required to graduate."

Neji and Sakura looked through all the files of the graduates. _Lots of unique genins this year_, he thought.

"It's going to be an interesting year," Neji said absentmindedly to Sakura.

Sakura didn't like that smirk on Neji's face, it gave her a sense of impending doom. "Oh, boy."

After the meeting was over, Iruka led them all to the classroom where the many hopefuls waited. The door opened and Iruka walked in. Iruka gave the children a little introduction to their senseis, and then the six jounins (well, they were actually ANBU… but they were temporarily of jounin status since they're teaching the kids the fundamentals).

They assembled in a line next to on either side of Iruka like they were new students. Iruka introduced either of them and then he pulled out a clipboard with the teams. And then he called out the names.

"Team Seven consisting of Akiba, Akane, and Hiro, will be lead by Uzumaki Naruto." The two boys fighting in the back row and the girl in the front row were either disgusted or thrilled to have each others as teammates_. They're the same as us when we started out as genins_, Naruto and Sakura thought.

"Team Eight consisting of Kisuke, Sho, and Murasaki will be lead by Inuzuka Kiba." All three of his brats were in the middle row, wary of their fang-baring teacher.

"Team Nine consisting of Michiko, Uru, and Taki will be lead by Hyuuga Neji." All three of his students were in the same row with the girl in the middle. She had this dazed look, and both boys were trying to pull her out of her daze for reasons yet to be known.

"Team Ten consisting of Miyuki, Tetsu, and Raiko will be lead by Rock Lee." Lee looked really pumped up, his students… not so much. Kiba had to stifle a chuckle at their dread of the green spandex.

"Team Eleven consisting of Ikuto, Shiro, and Mizashi will be lead by Akimichi Chouji." His students smiled brightly, having remembered Chouji as a nice shinobi who volunteered at the Academy often to help teach about herbs.

"Finally, Team Twelve, consisting of Miyabi, Kurogane, and Ryuu will be lead by Haruno Sakura." Sakura's students sat at the very back row. The one on the left looked bored, the second was sound asleep, and the third didn't even look her way! Having known Sakura for nearly more than a decade, the other jounins backed away when Sakura so much as closed her hands into fists. _Those damn brats, I'll show them not to underestimate me because I look small (SHANNARO!)_, Sakura thought.

Iruka pulled out his handkerchief and wiped at his forehead, scared for a second that Sakura might pummel her students before the break came. He looked back at his students and told them that they would meet with their instructors after the lunch break. Then they would spend the rest of the afternoon until dismissed with their instructors.

The six instructors walked out of the Academy and over the yakuniku restaurant. While Chouji was spreading out his beef on the grill, Sakura's temper was slowly leaving. Keyword: Slowly.

"Those damn brats. How dare they undermine me," Sakura gritted her teeth.

Naruto looked at her, "Don't worry about it Sakura, we just have to show them who's got the upper hand." And he gave her that look, the same eerie look as the time when they wanted to uncover Kakashi's mask.

Neji, slightly disturbed by Naruto's face, grimaced and watched the meat sizzle. "I have an idea," he shared with his friends.

Many at the table were grinning, some grinned menacingly. Others ate their meat.

--

**Chapter END.**

Author's Note: Oh man. What's Neji thinking. Why are they all grinning so madly. I feel sorry for their students.


	3. Introductions

Sakura-sensei

Chapter: 3

Author: Shockinblue

Rating: T

Genre: Humor/Slice of Life

Summary: Sakura Haruno; genin, chuunin, jounin, Tsunade's apprentice, excellent medical ninja... sensei? Let's see if Sakura is cut out to teach the next generation.

Author's Note: Life just doesn't go the way you want to when school is involved. But alas it is Christmas Break. I should start exercising these fingers!

---

Outside the Academy, and in the yards, the prospective pupils awaited ate their packed lunches. Of course, they were not all together. Those in Neji's team sat under the tree, while those under Naruto were by the swings.

However, the three boys in Sakura's team were lounging – practically sleeping – under the shade on a different tree. Clearly, neither of them intends to take Sakura seriously.

Swiftly the instructors made their way back to the Academy grounds, but lingered on a roof across the building.

"So that's the plan?" Kiba whispered to Neji.

"Ah. We'll show them what it means to be Konoha shinobi," Neji stated as he looked down at the children, completely unaware of their presence.

Sakura grinned menacingly, "We'll teach them good. Heh."

With that, they carried out their plan.

One by one, groups of three disappeared with their instructors to locations for introductions and the sort. Eventually, only Sakura's group was left.

"Where is that teacher of ours?" Ryuu asked, his patience wearing thin.

"She probably took one look at us and resigned herself because we don't look like shinobi material," Kurogane said, voicing his bitter anger.

"I knew it was too good to be true," Miyabi whispered solemnly.

_Swish_

Cherry blossom petals swirled downwards in a mini spiral. The boys were slightly amazed. Then they felt cool metal against their necks. Fearing creeping into the back of their heads, they turned their heads slowly to come face to face with a mask of a graceful fox. The mask was painted with red streaks, giving off a sense of danger despite the overall picture.

They held their breaths, scared that they might have gotten into some serious trouble. Then the blades were returned to its owner's pouch, and the boys exhaled. The figured behind them stood gracefully, her pink her flowing. They could just sense the smirk behind that mask.

Their blood boiled slightly as their instructor slid off her mask to reveal a smirk, with her eyes looking down at them. Ryuu gritted his teeth momentarily before huffing and turning around.

Sakura's smirk turned into a gentle smile. "Introductions on the roof over there," Sakura pointed to a building with a garden on the roof, "Now." With that she vanished.

By the time the students got up to the roof by foot, she was already sitting there drinking tea. In front of her laid three cushions, and three cups of tea.

_She's mocking us_, Ryuu thought.

They took their place with Ryuu in the middle, and the other two on either side of him. They sat in silence as Sakura quietly drank her tea. In truth, she was actually making observations based on their behaviour. A good medic habit she picked up ages ago.

She could tell that the boys were all close friends, probably childhood friends. Ryuu is most likely the "leader" of their group, a boy who has the others' respect. Kurogane seems to be the second in charge, most likely out of skill. Which left Miyabi as the last, but he was still cared for by the first two.

"Drink the tea, it's not poisonous," Sakura noted.

Hesitantly they took the tea and drank it. They were rather weary of her after her grand entrance.

"Now that you've all calmed down, let's start with the introductions. We'll start with the person in the middle and go counter clockwise. Likes, dislikes, dreams, and goals – if you have it, say it."

Ryuu stared hard at Sakura, trying to figure out what she was up to. Slowly he began to speak.

"I'm Ryuu. I like fighting, and I dislike liars and adults. My dream, I don't trust you enough to tell you, and goals… that's none of your business."

_What a great start we're off too_, Sakura thought.

"Name's Kurogane. I like to fight – or rather, I live to fight. I dislike backstabbers. My dream is to become a great swordsman and shinobi, and my goal… is to become recognized by those who thought little of me!"

_Sounds a little bit like Naruto, heh. _

"My name is… Miyabi. I like being with Ryuu and Kurogane. I dislike being separated from them, or seeing them get hurt. My dream… is to become strong. And my goal is to protect Ryuu and Kurogane."

_Ah, the glue of the group. I see._

Sakura smiled serenely, which sort of ticked Ryuu off.

"What about you, sensei?" Ryuu asked.

"Oh, me? My name is Sakura. My likes are, well, you'll see soon enough. My dislikes are… there's too many to list. My dreams and goals have pretty much all been achieved. So I guess I'll have to come up with a new one. It'll probably be something like, "To pass on the Will of Fire to the younger generations."

Disliking the silence, Sakura stood up. "You'll understand one day. Come on, we're headed to training field 1 to test your skills." She looked over the ledge. "Did you guys learn to jump roofs yet? Probably not. We'll take the long way, there's plenty of time."

With that she left for the stairs, and they followed.


	4. Old Techniques

Chapter: 4

Author's Note: In the second chapter I mentioned a character named Mizashi. But I never mentioned him afterwards in the group listings. So I've removed "Ayumi" and replaced that character with "Mizashi" under Chouji's team. :) Please enjoy this chapter.

---

Sakura and her students arrived at Field 1 and began some light exercises. She said their skills would be tested. Did that mean there was hope for them to become shinobi?

Miyabi shook his head to rid the thought, and turned his head in Sakura's direction. Miyabi knew a little bit about Sakura, but it was limited knowledge because he didn't see her much. He knew one thing for sure, she can heal.

He wonders if she remembers. That day he got injured at the park. Sakura was also there reading. She noticed his fall and went over to heal his cut.

"_Be careful, child. You must not hurt yourself, people will worry about you."_

Those words she said to him that day made him care just as deeply for his friends.

"Okay! I'm going to test your skills. See here?" she dangled one bell in her hand, "You are to retrieve this from me. How you do it is up to you. Winner will receive lunch, losers will be sent back to the Academy – the very first level of the Academy too." She grinned.

Ryuu clenched his fists. _How dare she._

"You have one hour, starting now!" With that, wind blew her students away.

Said blown away pupils used the wind to their advantage and hid themselves in the leaves.

_Like Kakashi-sensei would say, they know how to hide well. _

Sakura tied the bell to her waist and waited with her arms crossed. She stood still and waited.

"Why isn't she moving? Is it a clone?" Kurogane whispered to himself, "But I didn't see her make one."

Kurogane moved towards Miyabi's spot without taking his eyes off their teacher. Ryuu was already there when Kurogane got there.

"This is a test. But what is she testing us on?" Ryuu forced himself to say. He hated it when he didn't have answers.

"Ryuu, Kurogane, did you two notice how she kept on saying 'you' and not 'we'?" Miyabi asked.

"That's because there's only one bell!" Kurogane whispered harshly.

"Wait. Now that you mention it Miyabi, it's like she only expects one of us to get the bell." Ryuu thought out loud.

"I don't think that's all there is to it Ryuu. The way she spoke; she was tempting us to charge at her for the bell one by one." Miyabi told them.

"That means…" Kurogane drawled.

"That this is a test of teamwork!" all three of them realized at the same time.

"We'll show her, won't we?" Ryuu asked his friends.

"Damn right." Kurogane responded. Miyabi nodded enthusiastically. With that, the three discussed a plan.

_The boys have caught on, I can just feel it. _

_Hm, at least your kids can think._ A voice inside her head responded. From someone she hasn't heard of in a while.

_Long time no see, partner. You've been sleeping for a long time._

_Because I wasn't needed when you became strong._ Her other personality responded.

_Well, I'm about to need your help again for what's to come. Neji can think up some really scary things._

Her thoughts had to stop there when she could hear a rustle.

Shuriken were sent flying from three directions in the trees. Sakura pulled out a kunai to deflect them. Then, Miyabi suddenly charged at her from the bushes.

_Crap. Not bad._

Miyabi pulled out three kunai, threw two of them and held the third to strike at her with. Sakura readied herself, but just when Miyabi was within striking distance he exploded into gas.

_Ah, shit. They're good._

Ryuu appearing suddenly above her, back flipped and landed behind her, with his kunai pointing at her center. Kurogane came out from the side, and pivoted to her front, aiming another kunai at her neck. Miyabi reappeared behind Kurogane, and then all three of their free hands grabbed a hold of the bell.

Ryuu smirked in triumph and they all backed off. Landing in front of her in a row, they smiled triumphantly.

"Haha. We got the bell! And in less than 5 minutes too!"

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She chuckled lightly.

"You all saw through my trick, huh? I guess you can't rely on a technique that's already been done," Sakura sighed, shaking her head. Elsewhere, Kakashi sneezed.

"Congratulations. All three of you passed, earning you a free lunch from me. No one will be sent back to the Academy."

Sakura walked towards them and ruffled their hair, and then brought them in for a hug.

"Can't breathe!" Kurogane pretended to desperately push himself away from Sakura. Miyabi was tempted to hug Sakura, put didn't because he didn't want to be teased by his friends later. Ryuu, in the middle was receiving most of the pressure from being hugged from all sides. Ryuu didn't like the hug, but he didn't deny the warmth it brought him.

Suddenly a huge explosion went off in a nearby field. The hug ended and all four heads rose to the noise.

"What, what was that?" Miyabi asked, a little hint of fear in this voice.

"Are we being attacked?" Kurogane yelled.

"Come on, we're going to see what's going on," Sakura said, and began running towards the smoke.

When they got there, they were rather surprised. Six other genin like themselves were there, separated into their respectful groups. In the midst of all that smoke, Kiba and Chouji were butting heads.

"Shit!" Sakura cursed, "You three stay here, and don't interfere, and I'll take care of this."

Sakura ran towards the two adults in the middle, just as Neji , Naruto and Lee arrived on the scene.

They decided to help Sakura, and managed to separate Kiba and Chouji. Neji and Naruto had pulled back Kiba, while Lee and Sakura held Chouji back.

"What the hell is going on?" Sakura asked.

"It's his entire fault, he started it!" Kiba yelled at her.

"Chouji, did you attack Kiba?" Neji asked calmly.

"Only because he said that word!" Chouji yelled right back.

"What did you say Kiba?" Lee asked, unaware of this fact.

"I called him what he is," Kiba yelled fiercely, glaring eyes never leaving Chouji's, "because he's just a fatass after all."

Chouji's rage exploded, his arms expanding under his jutsu. Sakura had to apply some serious force to hold him back.

"See. Sakura's let me at him, let me at him!" Chouji screamed vehemently.

"Calm down Chouji! He didn't mean it, right? Ne, Kiba, say you didn't mean it." Naruto tried to mediate.

"Why should I you stupid monkey," Kiba scoffed.

"M-m-MONKEY?" Naruto was becoming angry.

"Kiba, stop trying to pick a fight with Naruto," now Sakura was trying to mediate.

All the genin looks at the situation haplessly. They didn't know what to do, their instructors were all fighting.

"Shove it, _pinky_." Kiba smirked.

The tension in the air snapped just like that.

"That's the last straw! I've had enough of your bull, I'm going to send you to hell where you belong!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, the rage seeping out with every word.

She released her hold on Chouji and moved in front of him. Chouji's rage vanished as soon as Sakura had lost her own temper.

_Holy crap, she's really mad. _Naruto thought.

The hold on Kiba was let loose, Naruto and Neji backing away in slight fear.

_Maybe I took it too far…_ Kiba thought.

"S-s-sakura, calm down. I didn't mean it. Please calm down." Kiba begged. He looked at Akamaru who backed away as far as possible.

All the others backed far away, taking their genin and putting them up in the trees. The children were told to stay put while the instructors took care of the situation.

Sakura's students looked down in part awe and in part fear.

"She looks really mad," Miyabi shook a little bit and hid behind Kurogane.

"You can't be serious…" Kurogane said, staring with wide eyes at his instructor.

Down below, Sakura pulled on her gloves and moved into an offensive stance. She charged at Kiba, readying her fist to punch him. Instead, Neji appeared and grabbed her arm before it could hit Kiba.

He tried to calm her down. But to no avail. The situation only got worse.

"So you're siding with him? Traitor," Sakura spat those words and used her other hand to push him away. Neji jumped back, landing in front of Kiba.

"I cannot allow Sakura to fight one against two, which would be most unfair," Lee claimed as he stepped up next to Sakura to join the fight.

"Yeah, and I still need to pay back Kiba for his… kind words," Chouji joined up as well.

"I guess it can't be helped," Naruto joined in on Kiba's side, "I can't let Neji have all the fun."

All six of these instructors stared each other down with malicious grins.

All the students could do nothing but watch.

"This is ridiculous. Why are the instructors fighting each other?!" Ryuu asked in a whisper to which only Kurogane and Miyabi could hear.

---

Author's Note: I thought I'd do some kind of character profile thing at the bottom of the chapters. Hopefully to let you guys know the characters better. And I also didn't notice this chapter was so long. I'm working on the next chapter right now.

Haruno Sakura

Age: 26

Occupation: Jounin, instructor

Team: Twelve

Students: Ryuu, Miyabi, Kurogane

First Impressions of them: Bunch of brats. But good brats.

Tendencies: Violent outbursts, use of ridiculous strength, fake smiles with evil intentions

About: Haruno Sakura, as many know her, escalated from genin to jounin over the years. After training with the Hokage, Tsunade, she obtained medical skill as well as monstrous strength. Matching her intelligent and short tempered nature. After mastering a wide field of skills, she entered the ANBU division along with her friends. Currently she devotes a majority of her time to the hospital, along with being an instructor to the new genin teams. She values every bond she forms with people, and appreciates the advice from her superiors. Although she still thinks Kakashi can do without his porn.


	5. Contagious Habits

Chapter: 5

Author's Note: Another chapter out already? ;D "Believe it!" The Naruto song, "Heavy Violence" is totally right for this chapter. XD I'm listening to it right now to get a feel for the brawl.

---

In a large training field encompassed by tall trees, six instructors stood face to face in the middle of the field. Stances set, and murderous intent seeping out from every pore, they pulled at their weapons and charged.

Sakura made the first move. She raised her arm and with just a finger she hit the ground shattering it beneath her. The cracks continued to spread causing Kiba's team to retreat back. The smoke cleared after the crater formed, with Sakura smirking in the center.

"Scared?" was all she said before she disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto. She punched him with a fist, sending him flying in a try on the other end of the field.

"Naruto-sensei!" Akane, the girl from Naruto's group, cried out. Tears began to stream down her face from seeing her instructor hurt.

Naruto struggled to get up, but Sakura was on him in an instant. With a push of her foot, the tree cracked and Naruto was forced into another man-made crater. He yelled in pain, having more than one rib crack from her chakra's pressure.

On the other side, Chouji had pulled out his family's jutsu. Enlarging his arms, and crushing Kiba's body with his hands.

The loud cracks from Kiba's arms could he heard, and his team winced.

With those pairs fighting, Neji was left to handle Rock Lee. But even Neji was having trouble defending himself from Lee's swift kicks and punches. Neji couldn't find an opening to do his _Kaiten_.

Ryuu looked at the brawl below, but focused his eyes on Sakura. _Her strength is ridiculous!_

Sakura picked up Naruto by the collar, "Why aren't you fighting back, Naruto?" She hollered and threw him across the field. He crashed into another tree.

Naruto slowly rose and summoned some shadow clones, his specialty. He had them make a rasengan for him. He charged towards Sakura, pulling back him hand to maximize the strength when he would plung his rasengan into her.

"Stop it right now!" A loud voice, that could only belong to one woman, hollered.

All six jounins were separated and held down by ANBU operatives. The Hokage stepped in, with her hands on her hips.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

The instructors looked away, refusing to meet her eyes, and refusing to answer. The other ANBU operatives brought the genin back to the ground.

Tsunade looked at Sakura, and told to ANBU holding her to step back. Tsunade approached her apprentice and demanded an explanation.

Sakura, who was still angry, looked at her master with the deadliest glare she could muster. She pulled her arm back and punched the Hokage in the face, sending said woman flying back. Tsunade managed to right herself a few meters away before she smashed into a tree.

The other instructors also managed to free themselves from the ANBU. Sakura slowly approached the Hokage and grabbed her by the front of her clothes.

"You wish," Sakura said and punched the Hokage straight in the face.

Said woman then burst into smoke to reveal Naruto!

_What?_ All the kids thought.

The ANBU burst into smoke and became Naruto's clones as well. They burst again into smoke and disappeared.

The clone in Sakura's grip also dispersed into smoke.

Then all the instructors burst into laughter.

"L-look at their faces, priceless!" Naruto managed to say in between fits of laughter towards Kiba.

Neji also chuckled deeply, leaning on Lee for support.

The children looked on for minutes before finally realizing what had just happened.

"Ah!" they all screamed.

"Sorry, sorry! We just wanted to have some fun, I'm sorry if we scared you," Naruto said has he approached his team.

"We wanted to show you how strong you can all become," Neji said to his students.

"With proper training and time," Lee continued to his pupils.

"So that you can all inherit the will of fire," Chouji said.

"They took all the good lines," Sakura said to her students.

The sun began to set and everyone left for the day. Sakura's team remained.

"Sakura-sensei! I never knew you were that strong!" Kurogane said, infatuated with her strength.

"Although it was a bit scary," Miyabi admitted.

"Thanks you two. But I won't be teaching it to you, nor will I be using it unless necessary."

Kurogane whined.

"Hmph. Don't treat us like kids," Ryuu said with serious eyes.

Sakura smiled gently at him. She approached him and ruffled his hair. "I'll keep treating you as a kid as long as you are one. It's not so bad, to be innocent as much as you can while you can."

Ryuu frowned at swatted her hand away.

They separated for the day and would resume activities the next day.

"We'll meet at the bridge tomorrow morning, don't be late!" And with that she left.

The next morning, Miyabi was the first to wake up. He arrived at the bridge quite early because no one was there yet. Kurogane showed up an hour later and wondered if he was late. Ryuu was the last to show up and cursed out loud when Sakura didn't show up after they were all together. Sakura finally appeared before lunch time and greeted her students.

"Oh, you're all here, that's good," She said happily.

Ryuu gave her a deadly glare and questioned her, "Aren't you late, sensei?"

Sakura looked slightly surprised, "I said I'd meet you in the morning, I didn't specify a time. So I'm not technically late, just the last to arrive." She said innocently.

Smoke possibly escaped from Ryuu's ear like an engine, and Miyabi held his friend in place before anything dangerous could happen.

Turning a blind eye to Ryuu's attitude, Sakura walked away, waving at them to follow.

Miyabi, ran towards her and caught up with her pace. "Where are we going," he asked her.

"Lunch."

---

Author's Note: I'm working on another chapter. :D Since I'm totally not focusing on my homework tonight.

Miyabi

Age: 11

Status: Genin

Teammates: Ryuu, Kurogane

Teacher: Haruno Sakura

About: Miyabi is a really shy character. He's the weakest between his friends, and he knows that quite well. But he still wants to protect them from harm and pain. He's a good friend, and because of the way he is, Kurogane and Ryuu always protect him. Together they're not just best friends, but like brothers. Miyabi hopes to become a strong ninja who can also heal. After Sakura's little display of strength, he hopes to learn from her. Miyabi has already accepted Sakura as his sensei.


	6. That Again?

Chapter: 6

Author's Note: I'm on a roll~

---

Sakura's team walked down the streets of Konoha in search of a place to eat. "What do you kids want to eat for lunch?" She asked without looking at them. They didn't really know what they wanted to eat, so they settled for a small snack café. They ordered some rice balls and dango for lunch.

"Try to eat slowly, and chew more. It's good for your digestion. I think we're going to have a mission after this," Sakura told them as she drank her tea. She watched her students eat their lunches. "This is a cheap lunch, I was hoping for yakiniku," Kurogane complained at his dango.

"Eat what you're given. It was either this light snack that will keep you full, or getting stuffed with meat and then puking it all back out when you do all that running in your mission." Sakura scolded him lightly.

"Ew. Fine, you win," Kurogane muttered before consuming his rice balls. After the boys finished eating, Kurogane stood, eager to go to the Tower. "Let's go, let's go!" he said in excitement.

"Finish your tea first!" Sakura said without moving from her seat, "It's good for your health."

"Aw, put tea is so yuck," Kurogane complained.

"Drink it. It's good for your health. And it's going to get you to the Tower faster," Sakura told him.

"Damn it, fine, you're such a mom," Kurogane sucked on his teeth and poured all the tea into his system. "Can we go now?" Kurogane asked again.

Sakura smiled in satisfaction and paid for the bill. Kurogane left out a shout of hurray and left the shop. The shop owner looked at her with a smile on her face. "He looks rather rowdy but he seems to like you," she said, her age and experience allowing her to see through children's actions.

"Yeah, I know." Sakura replied and left. They made their way to the Tower and into the mission's room to see if there were missions they could get.

"Got anything today?" Sakura asked as soon as she walked in. Iruka picked up a scroll and threw it to her. She caught it and looked it over.

"She's looking for it again?" Sakura exclaimed in humour.

"Yeah, she is. It seems to hate her," Iruka couldn't help but agree, "She'll be here to get it by the end of the today, please find it by then."

"Got it," Sakura left with her boys behind her. They left the tower and Sakura went into the tool shop to buy some communicators. She gave each of the boys one. "Wear them," was all she told them, and they did.

She taught them how to adjust it and then they went to the park. There she gave them the mission information.

"It seems one of civilians has lost their cat and we have the mission to find and secure it," she tried to make it sound as exciting as possible.

"What a waste of time," was all Ryuu had to say.

"You're right," she admitted with defeat, "But since you are of genin level, D rank mission are all we're going to get until you get promoted to the next level. And D rank missions are usually errands and escort missions."

"Sakura-sensei. You said the cat tends to become lost often?" Miyabi asked her.

"Yep. This cat really doesn't like its owner so it keeps running away. But because the owner loves her cat, we've got to bring it back to her. This is actually the first mission I got when I was a genin," she admitted.

"Same cat?" Kurogane asked. Sakura nodded. The conversation ended shortly after sighting the cat running through the bushes. The boys instantly went after it. Sakura told them to remember their teamwork before leaving them to it. She sat back against a tree and pulled out a book to read. She turned on her communicator and left it at a lower volume. She began reading the textbook and wondered when her boys would be done.

Said boys were chasing after the cat. Hours continued to pass before they managed to corner it in a fenced alley. Miyabi carefully approached the cat and comforted it by petting the animal. The cat was reluctant to respond, knowing its fate, but accepted the gesture and allowed Miyabi to pet him.

Kurogane smirked in triumph and muttered "mission complete" into the speaker for Sakura to hear. Her head snapped up and she closed her book. "Good job boys, bring it back to the Hokage Tower, the owner should already be there waiting for it."

True to her words, the owner was already there waiting for her cat when they came back. The cat struggled against his owner's grasp but she didn't seem to notice. The woman left the reward amount and returned to her home with the feline.

Iruka opened the envelope, divided the money and handed it to Sakura. Sakura then distributed the payment to each of the boys when they left the tower. "Don't you get any, sensei?" Kurogane asked curiously. Actually, all three of them had been wondering that.

"No, sensei's don't get money from missions like this since it's supposed to be your hard work," Sakura told them, "Besides, we adults get paid a lot more when we do higher ranked missions."

"Ah, that's unfair!" Kurogane replied.

They continued to walk until the passed by an ice cream shop. Miyabi glanced at the shop through the window. He looked at his earnings and clenched his fists. Sakura saw this and smiled. She went inside the shop and told them to follow. She patted Miyabi's head and told him to choose. She told the others to choose as well.

The owner, familiar with Sakura, did the orders and gave the boys their ice cream. She told them to sit at the booth by the window and they did so. Sakura then paid for the ice cream along with her own share and sat down with the boys.

Miyabi looked at Sakura and smiled in appreciation. All she did in return was ruffle his hair. Ryuu watched their exchange closely.

_Hmph._

---

Author's Note: Aw, Miyabi. I don't give the kid enough lines. Maybe Ryuu's starting to warm up to Sakura? ;D

Kurogane

Age: 12

Status: Genin

Teammates: Ryuu, Miyabi

Teacher: Haruno Sakura

About: Kurogane is a strong kid. He protects Miyabi a lot, and is strongest next to Ryuu. Kurogane longs to use a sword in battle, but has to stick with kunai and shuriken. He wants to become like the ANBU that use swords. He also tends to become a little bit childish, but that's only because he's starting to warm up to Sakura. Sakura's strength fascinates Kurogane, and he hopes to become strong like her in combat.


	7. Scary Medic

Chapter: 7

Author's Note: Another chapter to make up for the lack of chapters since I started this story _last year_ holy cow. I totally can't study for my test. So here you go, enjoy!

---

After last night, the boys met up at the bridge again before Sakura arrived. Kurogane couldn't help but yawn every couple of minutes. Then Miyabi decided to raise a question, "Hey… what do you guys think about Sakura-sensei?"

"Why, have you fallen in love with our teacher?" Kurogane said with a mischievous tone, putting poor Miyabi into a headlock. Miyabi struggled, pretending he couldn't breathe. Ryuu looked on at his friends antics and smiled a small smile.

"She's alright, for a teacher. But who knows? We've only known her for three days. But one thing's for sure, she acts like a mother," Ryuu said with an air of finality.

"Is that so?" Sakura's voice came from behind Ryuu. Said woman had just appeared, landing on the bridge's handles. She jumped off with grace and rounded to face Ryuu. She put her fists next to his head and messed with his head.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Ryuu hissed in slight pain and jumped away. Sakura put her hands on her hips and smirked widely. "Alright boys, we've got another mission to do, so let's go!"

For the remainder of the afternoon they picked weeds from civilian lawns and walked dogs. Kurogane who just had to pick the big dog was dragged into a forbidden training area filled with land mines. Hilariously enough the dog was the only one who came out unscathed. Poor Kurogane had the tips of his hair burnt to a crisp.

He wasn't too happy about it, but it made Miyabi laugh a little (and Ryuu outright laughed to the point where his stomach hurt). Sakura, having her medic senses tingling, checked up on Kurogane to make sure he was okay.

Just as their tasks were done for the day, Ebisu appeared. He told Sakura and her team were being called to the Hokage's office and off they went. Sakura wondered why they were going to Tsunade's office together when they should be receiving D rank missions from the mission's room. The boys seemed rather excited, in hopes of possibly a C rank mission.

When they arrived at the tower, Neji's group was already there. Sakura bowed in acknowledgment to everyone in the room as they stepped in. She stood with her group next to Neji's and awaited the Hokage's orders.

Tsunade looked up from her papers and gave her subordinates a good look. Shizune took two scrolls from the table and handed it to Sakura and Neji. "The mission details are inside," Tsunade told them.

"We've received an escort request from one of the visiting merchants. He wants to be escorted from here back to his hometown in Tea Country. Because of the possibilities of war many hidden villages are sending out more shinobi. This could possibly lead to an increase in missing shinobi activities. You two teams are to escort the merchant and his goods from here to Tea Country without fail." Shizune concluded.

"You will leave tonight," Tsunade told them, "decided how you're going to meet up and go from there. Dismissed!"

The teams saluted and left the Tower. Neji and Sakura agreed to meet with their students by the gate at 8PM. The merchant, who they went to find afterwards, was informed of this.

Sakura looked at her students and told them, "Pack lightly; a change of clothes, some extra weapons in your pouch, as well as a blanket to sleep in." With that she left them to pack her own things.

At exactly 8PM everyone arrived, the merchant arriving a few minutes later with his cargo. They set out immediately to make the most of their time. Neji's team guarded the rear while Sakura's team guarded the front. Taki, from Neji's team who had great sight, was put on top of the cargo to be a look-out. By the time morning hit they arrived near a minor city. They settled in a small inn and rested there.

When they awoke again in the afternoon they set off, getting closer to their destination. By the fourth day they managed to reach the border between Fire Country and Tea Country. They made a stop at the Fishing Village for the day. They stayed at an onsen hotel and enjoyed the hot soothing bathes.

"Michiko, would you like to go and take a bath in the onsen?" Sakura asked the girl from Neji's team. The shy girl complied and off the ladies went to their respectful bathes. Meanwhile the men crashed in the room and just sighed in relief at having arrived in Tea Country without any problems thus far.

The boys left afterward to take a bath in the giant hot springs. Only Neji remained to watch over the old man. As the boys climbed into the bath they talked about being a genin and how hard they were being trained.

"Neji-sensei is a slave driver," Uru said. Sakura and Michiko eavesdropped out of curiosity.

"Neji-sensei pushes hard but it's worth it. I think I'm getting stronger!" they heard Taki saying.

Ryuu lowered himself and blew air bubbles in the water. "Your teacher seems nice too!" Uru said, "Probably a bunch nicer than ours."

Kurogane groaned, as if imagining the feeling of pain. "She's about as tough as yours, if not worse," he complained, "and it doesn't help that all we get are D rank missions. I so hyped that we finally get this C rank mission but it turns out that it's just another D rank mission. No action at all - boo."

Miyabi laughed at Kurogane's reaction, "But she's really nice."

They continued to chatter about other ninja related things. Meanwhile on the girl's side, Michiko and Sakura spent some time bonding. Seems that Michiko has a small crush on Neji, but Sakura told her it was best not to have a crush on your teacher, because they can't always be with you. They might get reassigned after everyone enters Chuunin level. Michiko didn't seem all that bothered by it, besides, she already had a feeling that her love was meant for someone else.

Everybody returned to the room, and Neji and the merchant went to the bath house and different times with the other boys. They ordered a grand feast while Sakura and Neji treated them too. They all hit the bed early and woke up the next day to finish escorting the merchant.

They took their time getting to the merchant's hometown now that they were in Tea Country. They walked along the main road but it wasn't long before something was bound to happen. Suddenly a group of rogue ninjas ambushed them. Ryuu, Kurogane and Miyabi instantly guarded the merchant in a triangle formation around him. Neji's students instantly guarded the rear of the caravan.

The rogue ninjas smirked, believing they had the upper hand against a bunch of children, but they were sadly mistaken.

"Hold your horse!" and with that Sakura slammed into the ground with her foot causing a giant crater to form between them. The merchant literally held on to the reins of the horse. Just as Sakura charged at the rogues in front of her, a couple more appeared at the back of the cargo. Neji whipped out his skills, sending each of the enemies flying into tree branches.

"It's not call the ultimate defense for nothing," he remembered Lee saying that once.

Sakura dodged the attacks and pummeled the enemies on her end. She picked them up and tossed them into trees, where the impact snapped their necks. Neji told her to stop before she threw the last one. They tied him up and kept him for questioning while Neji went to dispose of the other bodies.

The ninjas couldn't get much of the hostage and left him to starve upside down in a tree. They continued to travel until they finally reached the hometown. Just outside the village they noticed a lot of fighting, some houses were even fire.

"My home, my family!" the old man cried.

Sakura and Neji stared for a moment longer before nodding to each other. "Take off your headbands and put on your cloaks. We're going to save the village." Neji instructed the genin.

Sakura went ahead to figure out the situation. When she got there she figured out the problem. A bunch of rogues, presumably members of a gang, were threatening the villagers. They demanded outrageous things which upset her very much. They treated the villagers harshly; beating up old men and tossing aside women and children. They even set houses on fire and destroyed the food vendors were selling.

_This is ridiculous. _She thought to herself. She hurried back to where the others were and reported the situation. They formulated a plan to round up all the gang members. They told the old man to wait outside while they took care of things inside.

They left, their teams splitting respectively. Neji's team took to the rooftops and headed for the lower half of time, while Sakura's team took the upper half, and they made quite the entrance. As one of the members picked up a villager by the collar and was about to toss them to the side, Sakura gripped the rogue's wrist.

"It would be in your best interest to stop what you're doing, and back off." She said in a calm tone.

"What did you say bitch?" the rogue replied arrogantly.

"If you don't won't to die," she frowned and her grip tightened immensely, "let go and leave."

Miyabi, who was waiting around the corner with others couldn't help but flinch at their teacher's tone.

_She's mad, really mad._

The rogue scowled and dropped the villager. Sakura let go of his wrist and he turned around to punch her in the face. Sakura angled her head to dodge the blow. She stared at the man in the eyes and frowned deeper.

"Hmph," was all she said before she sent him flying into his buddies with a push of her foot. She glared down at their pathetic state and took her arm. She turned her hand into a thumbs down sign and called them a dirty name.

Knowing that they would be pissed at said name, they stood and charged at her. Sakura took out her kunai and stabbed the first rogue that came at her through the heart. He dropped to the floor instantly and his body set aflame. Sakura looked at the stilled reactions of his comrades, as if telling them this was their fate if they tried to do anything.

The message certainly got across as they ran for their lives. Ryuu and Kurogane stepped out of the shadows just on time to trip them with thin wire and tie them up. When Neji's team finished up, they met together at the village square.

"Speak up, where's your hide out, and who's your boss?" Sakura asked first.

The rogues sneered, refusing to give her a reply. Sakura clenched her fists and jaw, but kept herself from killing them. Neji watched Sakura and sighed, knowing this wasn't going to get them anywhere. After several more minutes of attempting to make them confess they took a short break.

"If only Ibiki were here," Sakura said, stressed to the core.

"Maybe if you disguised as Ibiki, you'd feel like Ibiki. Get into his character, maybe?" Neji said with a straight face.

"Please don't joke like that, someone just might take you seriously," Sakura replied with a smile. His joke certainly put her in a better mood.

"But you come pretty close to being Ibiki, you have that thing don't you? The thing medics have on them," Neji suggested.

Sakura had this amazed look on her face, "Ah. You're so smart, Neji." With that she walked over to her students who were still trying to get an answer. She looked at Miyabi and pulled a little tube out from her pouch.

"Miyabi. Use this," was all she said, and the rest were inaudible whispers which only he could hear. Miyabi smiled brightly as he took the tube, uncapped it, and proceeded to ram it down on of the guy's throats. Ryuu and Kurogane could have sworn they almost saw an evil glint in their friend's eyes.

The rogue was forced to swallow it, and after a minute he started spilling all the information.

"All that's left is to take care of the boss, right? We can't just leave without doing that, right, Neji? That would be considered against 'escorting the merchant safely to his hometown'." Sakura asked him, oh so innocently.

Neji could only nod. _Sakura is indeed a scary medic._


	8. Black Book

Chapter: 8

Author's Note: I just noticed that I forgot to add a profile at the end of the last chapter. So today I'll do two. I was wondering if anyone was hoping for Ryuu's? ;D Anyways. Mmm, this will be the last couple of chapters (if I write that many) before school starts again. If I manage more than one chapter tonight, and then you don't see a lot chapters for the next week… then the rest will come during March Break. :)

---

The group of ninjas left the merchant at the town square and told him he'd be safe if he stayed in town. They all darted off towards the north where the rogues' headquarters were. When they reached the hideout, they stopped to discuss their tactics.

Neji activated his Byakugan, scanning the inside of the building. A majority of the rogues were downstairs, while the boss sat on the upmost level. The teachers agreed to split, letting Sakura's team handle the boss so that he doesn't get a chance to escape if he heard the noise downstairs.

Sakura turned to her students and nodded her head. They jumped from the trees and on top the roof of the run-down building. They stealthy moved to the spot above the boss's office while Neji's team made their way to the front door.

Neji's group broke in first, defeating the rogues below, while Sakura made a big hole with her heel. They landed gracefully on the floor, and saw the boss for the first time. He was a fat man with wild sideburns and bad hair. He had a stripped jacket with a rose sticking out of the pocket. He had a cigar in his mouth, which fell out and burned a hole on his jacket when the ninjas appeared.

Sakura took a second to judge the man's worth, and then nodded in his direction. Kurogane dashed in from the left, while Ryuu dashed in from the right. The man cowered and tried to shield himself with his arms. The two boys pulled out their knives and threw them at the boss, pinning his clothes to the chair.

Their teacher walked towards the cornered man and cast an illusion on him. Dangerous snakes seemed to be crawling up from his legs, binding them tightly. "Leave, and never return. You will flee and cause no harm to anyone any more. Got it?" She said in a dark voice. To further emphasis her words she put her own short knife to his neck and pressed a bit to make a small cut.

The man nodded frantically and the boys removed the knives. They stepped away and the boss ran for his life.

"Sakura-sensei, you looked a bit scary back there. That was kind of cool!" Miyabi said with a wide smile on his face.

"Aw man, that felt awesome." Kurogane shouted in glee. Ryuu couldn't help but smile at his friends' excitement. "He definitely pissed in his pants. Haha!" Ryuu said, a full smile forming.

Sakura walked towards the door and motioned for them to follow. They arrived downstairs to find a pile of rogues lying in the corner.

"Piece of cake," Neji said, looking like he had before they split up.

They returned to the village to give the good news. The merchant paid them and they were on the way again. Along the way, Sakura and Neji had a talk.

"Your kids are strong," Neji noted one night at the local bar in a passing village. Sakura sipped her drink and smiled, "Your kids are strong too, and intelligent."

They chatted about the missions and catching up on little bits about each other that they've missed out. "They have potential," Sakura said, staring at nothing in particular.

Neji was curious, "They?"

Sakura swirled her drink and looked at Neji, "The children. You know, the future generation? Kakashi always said, "the next generation will always surpass the previous one," it's hard to say that now, but it will happen eventually."

Neji sighed and called for another drink. He turned his head towards her and gave a small reassuring smile. "It's true, they will inherit our will, and the will of our village. They will become strong by finding what is important to them, and then they will gain strength from protecting that important thing."

She leaned her head against Neji's shoulder and set down her drink. "This is probably something you're used to being told, but that was possibly the longest dialogue I've heard from you outside of your mission briefings." She laughed lightly and closed her eyes.

He, too, closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, and finishing his glass in one go. "Although we didn't know him that personally, the third Hokage was a great man and leader. He spent time with us and taught us the Will of Fire indirectly." Sakura said, reminiscing the times from their childhood.

"You've been drinking with Tsunade lately, haven't you?" Neji chuckled lightly. Sakura raised her head and sat upright, and then lightly punched Neji. She called for another drink and stared into it when the bartender set it down in front of her.

"We are in a time of war. I feel sorry for the children, to have to be born during these times. No one wants to lose their parents, or people they have bonded with. At times like this, I can recall how strong Naruto truly was and still is." Sakura said in a low voice.

Neji patted her back, "That's why the six of us have become teachers. We're here to guide them in their path to becoming strong."

They finished their drinks and headed back to the room at the inn. They stepped into the dark room and lit a small candle lamp. Neji slid open the boys' room and noticed that the five boys were all tangled up amongst the row of futons. Just as Sakura leaned in to take a peak, Kurogane groaned and rolled over, kicking Taki in the side. Uru did a 180 degree turn somehow and also kicked Taki's other side. The teachers watched on as Taki got up, still half asleep, moved to a corner in the room with his blanket and went back to bed. Miyabi had cuddled in his own blanket like an armadillo and kept edging towards his own futon every time he could feel Kurogane bumping into him. Ryuu scratched his stomach and turned over.

The adults smiled at the boys. Sakura took the lamp from Neji and said good night, "I hope you can fall asleep with all that."

Sakura walked away after Neji said his good night as well, "I think I'll have to do what Taki did." She walked towards the girl's room on the other side of the room and slid the door open. Michiko awake on her futon, Sakura's futon lay out beside hers. Michiko had a slight nightmare and was too afraid to sleep alone, her paranoia nagging at the back of her brain. She sighed out of relief when Sakura walked in. They fell asleep around the same time, bidding each other a good night.

Over the next few days they made their way back to Konoha. They were so happy to see the gate at last. They walked in and stopped by Kotetsu and Izumo's post. Neji and his team left first, saying he'd handle the report.

The pair of chuunins behind the post was looking at the Black Book. Occasionally their faces would show that they were impressed when they reached a new profile.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, welcome back. The newest edition of the Black Book was released while you and Neji were out. Naruto's page has been lengthened again; this time he's got 3 whole pages. Shikamaru has two… and Shino's… well, it's only half a page," Kotetsu told her.

The boys, even though they weren't part of the conversation, listened in curiosity. "What about Sakura-sensei?" Kurogane said, curiosity peaking.

"She's got 4 pages, filled completely. Isn't that awesome, Sakura-chan? You're that dangerous. Haha," Izumo said with a light chuckle. Ryuu asked to see the book and Kotetsu offered it to him. The boys shared the book and stared at Sakura's page. Just before they got passed the basic information, the book was taken from Ryuu's hands.

"Hey!" Ryuu shouted unhappily. Sakura closed the book in her hands, and used it to whack the elder chuunins in the head. "This book isn't for children, you should know better. Maybe all those chairs to the head have damaged your common sense," Sakura scolded them.

The chuunins started sweating, afraid of Sakura's inherited short-temper out-breaks. They apologized and promised they'd never do it again. Just to make sure, Sakura confiscated the black book from them. This way, Sakura wouldn't have to buy one.

Sakura turned to her students and dismissed them for the day. Sakura made her way to the Tower and went to the higher level to enter the village archives. She was allowed inside where she searched for her student's profiles. Shikamaru came in just as she was done collecting files, and she found out that he was here for the same purpose.

She waited for him to collect his needed folders while listening to the numbers of "how troublesome" escaping from the tactic's mouth. The exited the tower and agreed to go to Shikamaru's house to go over the files. Shoji and tea were also in the agenda.

---

Ryuu

Age: 12

Status: Genin

Teammates: Kurogane, Miyabi

Teacher: Haruno Sakura

About: Ryuu like Kurogane is strong physically. He, like his friends, lost his parents to missing ninjas. They have been together for a long time, trusting only each other. Ryuu believes that all adults are liar and therefore cannot trust them easily. However, every since meeting Sakura, he's gained a slight interest in her. In the sense that he doesn't understand her, or know much about her, to the point where he wants to solve Sakura because she is a mystery. Ryuu is slowly trusting Sakura when she sees how well she's treating her friends, especially Miyabi.

Hyuuga Neji

Age: 22

Occupation: Jounin, instructor

Team:

Students: Uru, Taki, Michiko

First Impression of them: they have potential to have the best teamwork

Tendencies: making jokes with a serious face

About: Neji being the prodigy of their genin years, is still considered a prodigy in their jounin/ANBU years. Prior to becoming a teacher, he too was of ANBU rank – going as far to becoming an ANBU captain as well. Because of the connections he's made with his teammates and then Konoha 15, he uses his power to protect his friends. Also, having known people like Naruto and Sakura, he can now pull off jokes. Although it's believed that he does it purposely with a straight face to throw people off. Sakura has been Neji's medic for years, knowing when Neji is joking and responding with wit each time.


	9. Climb a Tree

Chapter: 9

Author's Note: Oh man. I'm so getting my butt kicked for not updating since..forever! Gah. Maybe a lengthy chapter or two will make you guys forgive me? XD; I'm planning some soon. So. What for it ;D

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"I envy your living arrangements," was the first thing she said when they entered the Nara compound. Next to Shikamaru, who was grudgingly walking closer towards the front door, Sakura could only look around at the greenery. She has indeed been here several times for mission and research related discussions, but the spaciousness awed her to no end. So, with files in hand they entered through the front door only to be greeted with a very angry voice.

"Shikamaru! Where have you been? You said you were going to buy some new equipment but you've been gone for half a day! It certainly can't take you that long to choose between 4-stared shuriken or 3-stared shuri—Oh my. Sakura-chan, it's been a while. What are you doing here?" Yoshino said as she went from angry to surprise.

Shikamaru, finding it too troublesome to speak, merely lifted his arm to show the files he was holding. Sakura, getting over the initial shock that was Yoshino's lecture, smiled politely like always and told her that she was here to research their students over tea and shoji. Yoshino, slightly embarrassed, ushered them inside and said she'd prepare the tea for them.

So off the childhood friends went to Shikamaru's room. He opened the sliding doors to his room but only entered it briefly to pull out the shoji board. Sakura, already knowing this was going to happen, took a seat outside the room and in the hallway of the Nara's traditional home. She took a lot outside at the small garden expanding into the forest beyond and felt rather calm.

Shikamaru set down the board between them and sat on the other side. He pulled out the pieces and divided between them evenly. But first, they were going to read the files. Or at least try. No, they had to read them… that's what they're here for (What about shoji?). Sakura opened the first file, Miyabi's, and read the content.

Miyabi had lost his parents to an untimely illness at a young age. The Third Hokage at the time deemed it proper to have him share an apartment with two others, Kurogane and Ryuu, who had also lost their parents around the same time. Naturally, being together for such a long time, they began to trust and depend on each other. Miyabi had no other siblings, and considered the other two as brothers. Although he is physically weak, he is mentally strong. Seems to be a genjutsu type with good (or, better than good) chakra control.

Yoshino came by and put down the tea tray and left them to their devices, noticing how both were heavily indulged in their files – the shoji board left untouched. Sakura picked up a cup of tea and took a sip from it. She set down her cup and nudged the tray towards Shikamaru. He then took his cup and drank a bit from the cup – unaffected by the heat of the tea.

Sakura continued on to the next file.

Kurogane had also lost his parents, but the incident occurred a year before Miyabi's. Kurogane's parents were also shinobi who had risked their lives to obtain information on enemy villages. Unfortunately they had been discovered not only by the village but also rouges. The mother was killed by the shinobi from the village, and the father had been killed by the rogues. It seems that a katana of sorts has been left in the treasury for Kurogane to inherit when he becomes of age, but he is unaware of this. After the death of both parents, the Third Hokage introduced him to Ryuu, and Miyabi soon after. Kurogane, aware of how his parents died, has strived to become stronger in order to never let it happen to his comrades.

Sakura with the cup at her lips couldn't help but smile. _Although he says it's for a completely different reason_.

To her left she heard Shikamaru grunt an incoherent sound, and watched as he put the files to the side and turned towards the board. He made the first move and waited for her to make hers. Of course, not in a rush as always, Shikamaru couldn't help but let a yawn escape. Sakura shifted to face the shoji board and kept her hand hovered over the board. She turned her attention down to the last file after making a move.

Ryuu did not lose his parents to illness or enemies, they had abandoned him. Ryuu at the time was unaware of this and was told by the Third Hokage that they had died on a mission. The Hokage then introduced him to Kurogane, and later to Miyabi. Most likely before the desertion by his parents, he was lied to by them, thus why he has a difficult time trusting adults. It may also be an influence of the parents that Ryuu believes adults underestimate him.

Sakura frowned. This was something she didn't want to know, but at the same time thought she had to know. She was certainly unhappy about Ryuu's situation, although it was part of the past. She was pretty sure Ryuu did not know of this, since he had never indicated any signs of knowing. Plus these files were top secret and held in a place only high level ninjas like her could access. She figured it wasn't worth the time debating whether Ryuu knew or not and instead focused her attention on the board.

Finding the game to be in Shikamaru's favour, she started on a strategy to win.

Sakura returned home much later after not one, but two defeats, and did her nightly routine before hopping into bed. Tomorrow she would return the files and then spend some time training her students, unless there was a mission for them. She slipped into her bed and tossed a couple of times before finally falling asleep. That night she dreamt of herself in Ryuu's situation.

The next morning, Sakura stuck to her agenda and prepared for the morning. She returned the files right before dawn broke and made her way to the infamous ramen stand. She waited and watched as Ichiraku set up its stall and took the first seat. She ordered a small bowl of miso ramen and ate it in silence. After she finished, she paid for the meal and bid the owner a good morning and goodbye.

Then, she leaped on to the rooftops and towards the training grounds. At such an early hour she would think that no one would be there. But, not so much to her surprise, she found Lee doing his daily warm-ups. And by warm-ups, she meant 1000 push-ups. Waiting until he actually reached 1000, so that he wouldn't punish himself should she interrupt partway, she finally greeted him when he stood up.

"Sakura-san, you are up early on this fine morning! Would you care to do some light exercise with me? And then perhaps a quick spar?" He said most enthusiastically.

Sakura couldn't possible say no at a chance to spar in taijutsu with the famous Green Beast himself, and agreed to this arrangement.

By the time the villagers were out and about preparing for the day, Sakura was covered in sweat and some bruises. She thanked Lee for the training and quickly sprinted home for a shower and change of clothes. Meanwhile, her three pupils gathered on the red bridge waiting for her appearance.

"Hey, have you ever wondered why we always come so early in the morning even though Sakura-sensei herself doesn't show up until noon?" Kurogane asked out of the blue. He turned to face his buddies just in time to see their equally puzzled expressions.

"Now that I think about it, you're right. Why do we bother to wake up so early for her when she herself doesn't show up until she feels like it," Ryuu questioned as he tried to find the answer.

"Maybe it's because we never know when she'll come, so we always make sure we're here for her. And then you two can always make sure to remind her about her late tendencies?" Miyabi said aloud. The other two turned to look at him with wide eyes at his answer. Refusing to believe he was here purposely to wait for her, Ryuu said, "Tch. It's not our fault she can't be on time. She's ranks above us and we have to constantly tell her to be on time like she's a child!"

"Hmmm… is that how you think of me?" A familiar voice said right next to Ryuu's ear. Said boy jumped slightly in shock, turned around, and clasped a hand to his abused ear. He then proceeded to glare as violently as possible at his teacher, because he wasn't about to blush and looked flustered or anything. He wasn't going to visibly admit that he had been caught off-guard.

Sakura grinned like she knew somebody's secret and decided to wave off the boys' behaviour. "Come on you guys, we're going to Field 1 for some quality training. Hopefully you guys will master the simple task before nightfall. If it takes any longer, I'll have you admit complete defeat," she said and started walking away.

Curious, and two slightly enraged, they followed her to the training grounds. Once they arrived, Sakura stopped and turned to face them. Grinning broader than she had a few minutes ago, the boys couldn't help but question their teacher's questionable smile. "So… what is it that you want us to do?"

Sakura couldn't have asked for a better question. "You're going to climb a tree." It took all but one second for Ryuu to blare, "What!?" as if her answer was an outright insult to his skills. Miyabi on the other hand was slightly curious and waited for more details.

Their teacher held up her hands in a surrender kind of gesture in order to pacify Ryuu before explaining the details of their task. "I want you guys to climb a tree using only your feet and chakra. It's not that hard really, but it is a matter of control," she said. She proceeded over to the nearest tree and put her foot against the trunk. Without as much as a thought she placed her other foot above the first on the trunk and started walking up the tree sideways.

Kurogane wasn't really sure whether to be in awe or freaked out.

Then Sakura walked onto the closest branch…upside down.

But heck, if he could do something as cool as that, he might as well be in awe.

Sakura, standing upside down on the branch, gave her instructions, "Each of you find a tree and start practicing. Put chakra into the bottom of your sandals and start walking. But since you're beginners, you might want to run instead of walk. Then, as far up as you can go, mark it with a kunai before you fall off."

Each of her boys stood by a different tall tree, side by side. Sakura let the chakra on her feet leave, and then she gracefully landed on the ground. She walked towards her students and gave her final advice, "Too little chakra and you won't stick. Too much chakra and the bark will snap off." With that she signalled for them to begin and left them to their devices.

She found a tree some meters away and sat under the shade with another book. She heard plenty yells of frustration, and several grunts of pain, and many slashes of kunai running through the tree bark. It wasn't long though before she heard a "Sakura-sensei!" and she looked up to find two breathless boys and the bottom, and one happy boy at the top.

"Oh! Good work Miyabi!" she beamed at him and looked over at the other two, "It looks like one of you has better control than the others. Maybe you should ask for some help, I'm sure he'd be glad to give it to you." She looked at both boys who promptly Hmph'd and turned away from her.

She stood and watched them a little longer, both breathless and sitting at the base of the tree, before deciding to take some action.

"You're not giving up, are you?" she asked, trying very hard to hide her smirk behind her book. But it definitely caught their attention.

"That would mean you both fail," she purposely jibed, once again. Their eyes twitched.

"I guess Miyabi is stronger than the both of you." That was the last straw. Ryuu and Kurogane stood shakily, clenching their fists before turning their attention back to their trees. They took in deep breathes and did the sign to send chakra into their feet. Before Sakura could blink, they were back at it, running up the tree.

She didn't even have time to continue reading, because they had already reached the top. Both Kurogane and Ryuu stood victoriously at the top branch and grinned in absolute bliss. "Take that!" Kurogane beamed.

"So you two can do it after all," Sakura said, smiling proudly. Miyabi smiled too, because their sensei encouraged his friends, challenged them, and they accomplished it. "Alright, you can come down now. But you have to walk down on the tree," she said before stepping back to watch them. She pocketed her book and waited patiently.

Suddenly they found this a bit more challenging, slightly afraid they'd lose their grip halfway and plummet face-first into the ground. The three friends looked at each other and resolved their confidence. Together they walked down their separate trees and were awarded with a pat on the head from Sakura.

"Good job guys, what do you say we--" Sakura was cut off by the arrival of a Chuunin messenger.

"Haruno Sakura, the Hokage requests your immediate presence at the hospital. An ANBU has just returned severely injured and on the brink of death," was all he said before Sakura nodded and he disappeared in a both of smoke.

"Looks like I have to get to the hospital. You're free to come along too, you can watch, but only if you promise to stay quiet and out of the way," she said before all put disappearing with them to the hospital floor. Outside the emergency room, Sakura looked at them as if hoping they'd decided before walking in first.

The boys stood outside silently debating whether or not they wanted to watch before Miyabi went inside the room. He was about to watch a medic at work, something he strived to become. He wasn't about to let the chance pass. Ryuu and Kurogane swallowing their discomfort entered the room because they couldn't just leave Miyabi alone.

Inside, they stood against the wall to the side and watch their sensei bark out orders to the surrounding medics. The man on the surgery table was indeed severely wounded with ruptured organs and literally torn muscles. The boys watch in slight horror as the unconscious shinobi was pieced back together and fixed by the hands of their Sakura-sensei. She healed with chakra, wasting none of it, and did it efficiently too. They watched in silent awe.

20 minutes later, an exhausted Sakura announced the patient to be out of danger and safe. He was transferred on to a hospital bed and then wheeled away into a room to rest and recover. Sakura disposed of her gloves, mask and apron and turned towards her students as the rest of the medics cleaned up. She walked out silently telling the three to follow her. It wasn't until they were away from the hospital before she started talking again.

"Was it hard to watch?" she asked gently as she turned towards them. They could only nod. "I'm sorry you had to watch it, but you guys were very brave to," she embraced them in a hug.

There were so many questions swimming in their minds, but neither could voice it. Sakura smiled gently at them as if she had all the answers and ruffled their hair. Ridding herself of the previous atmosphere, she stood up straight and stretched. "What do you say we go for some yakiniku, on me?"

The boys replaced their grim faces with excited ones and instantly cheered, running to their favourite restaurant.

---

**Chapter END.**

I totally have this all planned out. Really.


	10. Water Bucket

Chapter: 10

Author's Note: I'm making up for the time I've lost. That and I can't sleep. I'm making sure to read over it as I go. This way there will be less spelling mistakes hopefully. I can't guarantee it though. It is 5AM in the morning. And I'm supposed to go shopping for party supplies in the evening of today. Maybe I'll catch some sleep in the afternoon. Or after this chapter before the sun comes up. Hopefully.

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Team Twelve walked into the prosperous yakiniku restaurant, and was greeted by not only the owner but Chouji's team as well! Sakura and her students walked up to Chouji and exchanged hellos.

"How's lunch, Chouji?" she asked in a humorous tone. To which the childhood friend replied, "Grilling." Sakura couldn't help but giggle. It was then that Miyabi decided that he liked his teacher's laughter. But he would never admit it out loud.

Not wanting to impose, Sakura's group took up a table across from Chouji's and they began eating their meat. Sakura ordered bowls of radish broth for all of them along with the meat. Kurogane looked at her funny and made a face, expressing his disgust. Right before she was going to explain her reason, Ryuu held up his hand as if to stop her and said, "Yeah, we know, it's healthy for you."

Sakura, having been beaten to her line merely pouted and waited for the meat platter to come. When it came, the waiter placed it in front of Miyabi and Sakura who were sitting on the outside of the booth. Ryuu reached across Sakura for it, but never grabbed it because Sakura took it and lifted it out of his reach. Ryuu wasn't happy about this because he knew he was at a disadvantage.

"What's this? You're not going to argue about this. Perhaps you have matured, Ryuu," Sakura said as she placed the meat for them on the grill. Said boy was even more discontent by her compliment and instead chose to scowl at the grilling meat.

"You shouldn't look so upset Ryuu, one day your face might permanently become like that," Sakura said again as she passed out the bowls of radish broth. After hearing this, Kurogane and Miyabi pictured what it would be like if Ryuu's face was permanently etched into a scowl. They then burst into laughter and nearly dropped their chopsticks. Sakura smiled at their antics and watched out of the corner of her eye as Ryuu growled at his friends.

"Sakura, are you feeding the boy right? I really hope that wasn't his stomach," a voice said from a table not too far from theirs. This time Sakura was laughing really hard with her hands clutched around her stomach. Ryuu on the other hand blushed as bright as the flames under the grill plate, and chose to sink in his seat.

Their lunch was a meal of absolute laughter. Although it was at Ryuu's expense.

After lunch they headed towards the Tower's mission room and decided to see if there were any missions the boys could do. This time, Iruka handed them three scrolls in total. "Three scrolls, that's a first Iruka-sensei," she said offhandedly as she looked at the scrolls.

"Yes, three separate missions, I'm sure they can handle it. Please have them done in two days time. One of them starts tonight," he said without looking up, as he was writing something down.

Team Twelve nodded and left the Tower. Once outside, Sakura opened the first one and found that it was a D rank mission. Curious, the boys looked up at her and waited for her to tell them, seeing as they couldn't read the scroll from its current height. Sakura smiled, clearly amused, and looked at her boys. "Your first mission is to babysit."

She wasn't sure if she should have laughed at Kurogane and Ryuu's expressions. They changed from shock, to confused, to unhappy in a matter of seconds. At least they asked who they were babysitting.

"Oh, it's a pair of toddler twins. It seems their parents have wanted to go out on a date for a long time now. So they want someone to look after their children… you know: feed them dinner, give 'em a bath, put them to bed."

She tried very hard not to laugh as Kurogane and Ryuu's looks paled. Then the colour returned just as quickly when Kurogane asked, "Why can't they just get their relatives or neighbours to do it?"

They started walking towards the address stated in the scroll. "Because not everyone is available like genin to do tasks like this; consider it an enriching experience," she said as she walked up to the door of the small home.

"Gurgling, burping, and diapers are anything but enriching," Ryuu huffed. Sakura smacked him lightly on the head right before the door opened.

The door widened to reveal a young woman with a male toddler in her arms. Instantly she realized, "Oh, you must be the genins Iruka-sensei sent to watch the children, am I right?" Sakura nodded and the woman allowed them to enter. The woman closed the door behind them and guided them to the living room. "Dear, they're here now, are you ready?" she asked her husband who was trying very hard to fix his tie.

The woman placed the toddler on the floor next to his twin brother and went over to help her husband with the tie. After they were set, they turned to Sakura and gave her a basic schedule and recipe for the toddlers. They were rather relaxed about Sakura being in charge, knowing very well of her reputation in the hospital. It wasn't long before Sakura bid them a good date at the door before closing it gently and turning towards the 5 boys.

"Alright then, how about we introduce ourselves to them," she started by walking over to the toddlers and sitting beside them. She picked up the first twin and held him in her arms. Clearly, the toddler liked being held and smiled giddily. "Hi there, my name's Sakura. What's yours?" she asked. The little boy was polite to return his name, Yuki, before smiling again. She then held Yuki in one arm and reached for the other twin with her other. Like Yuki, she held his brother close in a hug and repeated the same introduction. The other brother was a little shyer around strangers but still gave his name, Shiro.

Sakura then had her students introduce and shake hands with the little toddlers. For the rest of the afternoon they got along really well. All was running smoothly up until nap time.

Sakura pulled out a futon and laid it out horizontally. She placed the twins down and told them it was time for a nap. They seemed content with this idea and started to nod off. However, Shiro was beginning to think Sakura was his mother and latched onto her before he fell asleep. Her students watched in wonder at this predicament as Sakura slowly try to release herself from Shiro's grasp without waking him.

At the first attempt she nearly woke Shiro up, so she had to return back to her previous position. When Miyabi thought it was safe enough for Sakura to try again, she slowly move away and patted Shiro's stomach slowly and gently. When she was sure both of them were asleep she lied down sideways next to Shiro and placed the blanket over both of them. She kept her eyes on the twins and patted Shiro gently in hopes of keeping him asleep.

After an hour or so she figured it was about time to start preparing dinner and was about to ask her boys for help, only to find that they too had fallen asleep in the flow of things. Sakura inwardly smiled and wished she could have taken a photo of this. But a memory would be enough for now. She got up without making a noise and ventured into the closet for another blanket. She draped it carefully over the three boys and stopped perfectly still when Kurogane shifted a bit and kicked Miyabi in the leg.

Luckily no one woke up. She draped the blanket and walked away into the kitchen. She started preparing dinner as quietly as possible.

Half an hour later, dinner was ready and she poked her head into the living room to check up on the boys. She walked over to the twins and quietly woke them up. They were still drowsy but managed to sit up. Sakura lifted them up and asked if they'd like to eat dinner. The twins managed to nod their heads and let Sakura take them to the bathroom to wash up. When they came out, the twins were more awake, and they noticed that the boys were still asleep.

Sakura gestured for the twins to stay quiet as she knelt by the boys to wake them up. She started by shaking Miyabi gently and calling him. Miyabi tossed a bit before sitting up. He looked around and realized that he had fallen asleep. Flushing in slight embarrassment, he stood up and led the twins over towards the dinner table.

That left Ryuu and Kurogane.

Sakura put her hand on Kurogane's shoulder and shook him gently. Kurogane's eyes opened a bit before he closed them, turned over and muttered something that sounded like, "5 more minutes…." Sakura chuckled a little and tried again. This time it worked, and Kurogane sat up ramrod and figured out what had happened. He sheepishly apologized before joining Miyabi. Finally it was Ryuu's turn. She didn't really know what to do. But dinner was getting cold.

So she smacked Ryuu lightly in the forehead and he immediately snapped up, gently holding his forehead with a slight hiss of an "Ow!" Sakura run back into the kitchen before she got caught. Ryuu removed his hands and looked around. His eyes landed on Kurogane, who he assumed was the culprit and immediately went towards him with a slight glare.

Sakura came out from the kitchen with 6 bowls of udon and set them on the table. She didn't give Ryuu a chance to yell at Kurogane because she knew it wasn't his fault. They sat down quickly for dinner afterward with the twins on either side of Sakura so that she could help them eat. Miyabi also helped a in making sure the udon noodles ended up in the twin's mouth and not on the floor.

After dinner, Sakura had the boys play together while she read her book. When it started getting dark out, she suggested it was time for the twins' bath. They all went up to the bathroom and walked inside. Sakura suggested the boys bathe with the twins. She also told them, "They don't need to wash their hair tonight, so they only need to wash their bodies. You guys can handle that, right?"

The boys replied with a "Sure," and Sakura questioned if they were really capable of doing it. Ryuu, slightly annoyed at being underestimated told her, "Yes, we'll be fine. In fact, we'll make sure they're squeaky clean. Now out!" He forcefully turned her around and pushed her towards the door.

"Alright… if you need me I'll be right outside." With that she closed the door behind her on her way out. She then leaned against the door listening for any signs of accident or trouble.

She heard a bunch of things falling to the floor – _most likely clothes_ – followed by the sound of them being picked up – _must be Miyabi_ – and then there was some shuffling. She heard the tap turn on, she could also hear the heater starting up. Then she heard the showerheads going off. It sounded like everything was going smoothly.

Until she heard a "Whoa," followed by a thud, and finally a really loud "OW!"

Sakura immediately dashed into the room and through the sliding door that separated the sink and cabinet from the actual bathroom. The first thing she saw when she entered was Kurogane who was on the floor, and a bar of soap – perfectly lathered – a few feet away. Kurogane sprang up in a sitting position clutching the back of his head in slight pain.

At first, only Ryuu and Miyabi noticed their sensei. And they instantly blushed red because obviously, they were naked. Of course, Sakura didn't really pay attention to it; she was too into her medic mode, after hearing Kurogane yell.

She went over to Kurogane and asked if he was okay. Said boy instantly whipped his head around and yelled, "Gah!" before finding the closest object – a water bucket – to cover himself. A string of profanities ran through his head, but what he did say was, "What are you doing in here? Get out!"

Sakura, not really grasping the situation asked in concern, "But didn't you get hurt when you slipped on the soap?"

Kurogane's face couldn't have reddened any deeper. "No, I'm perfectly fine. So get out already!" His face scowled as he looked off to the side, trying not to look her directly in the eyes.

It took a second or so until the gears in her head clicked and she said, "Oh…."

Kurogane couldn't really take anymore, "Let a guy keep some of his dignity! Get out!"

Sakura nodded her head, muttered an apology and went outside, closing the door behind her yet again.

As soon as she was gone, Kurogane went into the bathtub, submerging his mouth and instantly let loose that string of profanities – which of course, came out as bubbles.

Later that night, the parents came home and handed Sakura an envelope of payment. They thanked each other and Team Twelve left. A couple of blocks away from the small home, Sakura told her students that they would meet up at the bridge again tomorrow morning, and that they were dismissed.

After she watched her boys speed off in the direction of their home, Sakura walked off towards Ichiraku, which opened until late at night. Luckily she found Naruto sitting on a stool, inhaling his favourite ramen.

She asked the old man for some sake and waited patiently until Naruto finished his current bowl. When he was done, he greeted Sakura and asked her if anything was wrong. The owner set down a bottle of heated sake and a drinking dish in front of Sakura and continued making the next bowl of ramen for Naruto.

"Naruto," she sipped her sake, "There's a very high chance that my brats hate me now."

Naruto, being who he was, was slightly confused. "What do you mean, Sakura-chan?"

She explained the mission to him and he listened carefully – whilst inhaling another bowl. "I unintentionally barged in on them while they were bathing the twins."

Naruto choked slightly but managed to correct himself. He set his finished bowl done and looked at his teammate. "So you saw them naked by accident?"

Sakura start drinking straight from the bottle. It was her fifth one. "Yep, and the worst part is, I realized that they realized that I didn't think anything of it."

Naruto snorted before breaking out into full-blown laughter. "Oh man. I feel so sorry for them. They must really feel like kids now."

Sakura laid her head on the cool wood of the stand. "Don't remind me about it."

Naruto inhaled another bowl.

"Don't bring it up with the brats either. Or else."

Naruto continued to inhale. Sakura drank another bottle of sake.

---

**Chapter END.**

Lengthy chapter. I gave up on sleeping. It's totally day out now anyways. Blah.


	11. Flaws

Chapter: 11

Author's Note: Okay. I have things planned. Sort of. The plot is like 50% written up in my head. Still trying to figure out what works for this story and what doesn't. Until then, enjoy this. I'm hoping to put things into motion after 2 more chapters maybe. If you guys would review and tell me which of the boys you like, that'd be nice. Uh.. And someone reviewed and asked about romance. Um. This story is supposed to be General / Family themed. So there won't be any relationships for Sakura. At least not now. I'll probably work out something for her after the whole "what I have in mind" ordeal I'm having. Yeah, on to the story.

---

Time passed after those missions. One by one it was like an endless hurdle of D missions. This led to the three young genin tired and waiting on the bridge. "Where is she?" Ryuu all but forced out from clenched teeth. They had been waiting at this bridge for more than 4 hours. It would have been an impressive record of waiting time for one's sensei, but Sakura's Team 7 had that record down at an impressive 8 hours.

Miyabi sat against the side of the bridge while Kurogane looked down into the water. Ryuu was fuming on the other side of the bridge, glaring into his reflection with as much hate as he could.

"Oh, what are you all doing here?" The three looked up into the face of one Hatake Kakashi.

"We're waiting for Sakura-sensei," Miyabi answered, remembering that this man was Sakura's instructor. Kakashi took a couple of seconds to take a good look at each of them. His visible eye closed and his mask crinkled with the form of a smile, hiding a little secret.

"Do you know where she is? We've been waiting for hours," Kurogane made a point on how long they've been waiting. Kakashi, still smiling said, "I saw her back in the training grounds, sparring with Naruto. Maybe you have the meeting place mixed up?" Ryuu seethed and quickly walked off to the training grounds, intent on unleashing his fury on his instructor. Kakashi waved and disappeared in a puff of smoke as Miyabi and Kurogane followed their companion down the path. They figured they were closing in on her when they heard sounds of the earth cracking in submission.

Coming out from the layers of trees they watched as Sakura and Naruto sparred. Clearly, Naruto was being evasive, trying his best to dodge all of Sakura's chakra-laden punches. "Stand still," she gritted out after her latest punch. Naruto laughed nervously and continued to dodge, "No can do Sakura-chan." This routine continued on for a bit until Naruto's own genin group showed up on the other end of the field. Both jounins then ceased their spar and parted ways to their respective groups.

"What are you guys doing here?" she inquired, curious as to why they were not at bridge instead. Ryuu glared at her while tapping his foot on the ground, "Tired of waiting for you." Sakura, quite shocked, looked at her watch and nearly had a heart attack. She apologized to them and promised some rigorous training after lunch because she, too, was hungry now.

The meal came and went by quickly as the genin were eager to do learn something to become stronger. After the whole climbing the tree business, they learned to walk on water to the point where it became natural. Sakura had made them walk on the hot water produced from the hot springs in a nearby pass-by town. They caught on to the idea fast because if they faulted even a little, they'd end up in hot water in full clothing.

Today Sakura had them spar against each other; Ryuu with Kurogane and Sakura with Miyabi. Of course she trusted the boys could handle themselves properly and not kill each other, because they weren't exactly Naruto and Sasuke. So she put her full attention on Miyabi and asked him a bit about himself before she started. "Miyabi, what kind of ninja do you want to be?" Miyabi looked at her a little bit confused. She continued to explain, "There are all types of ninjas: trackers, hunters, medics, and so on."

The medic part caught his interest, "Sakura-sensei, I think I want to become a medic like you." Sakura looked deep in thought at this and contemplated how well Miyabi would do in her field. When she read their files it also mentioned the styles they were best suited for. Like herself, Miyabi was also a genjutsu type, with the best chakra control she has seen thus far. She figured it would work out well if he trained to be both a medic and a tracker.

"Miyabi, do you know that you're naturally a genjutsu type? On top of that your chakra control is the best out of your class. So I think you would turn out well as a tracker. But since you want to be a medic… how about I teach you about both?" She told him. The look on his face was absolute happiness. He couldn't have asked for anything more. Now he could train to become strong and able to protect his friends.

She smiled at him; she would teach each of her students properly and with the same attention, she would not have another Team 7 in her hands. After assuring herself of this another time she turned to Miyabi and smirked, "Just so you know Miyabi, I'm going to put you through some serious Spartan training."

Miyabi paled a little but quickly recovered, "I wouldn't have it any other way Sakura-sensei." Sakura smiled and told him, "That's the resolve I like to see." They put some distance between themselves and she asked him if he was ready for their first training session.

He readied himself in a defensive stance and told her, "Yes." And Sakura began right away by charging at him. Like shishou, like apprentice, Sakura started with a slightly chakra-enhanced punch to Miyabi's abdomen. Miyabi, on reflex, closed his eyes shut and guarded his chest with his arms. This caused him to end up against a tree by the force of that punch. This also earned him one heck of a yelling, "Miyabi! Why are you closing your eyes! You must never close your eyes in the face of an enemy! Always keep your eyes open! Watch your enemy's every move!" she scolded him.

Miyabi struggled a little before standing up again. He wiped something off his face and returned into his previous stance. "Yes, Sakura-sensei," his determination doubled. "I'm coming at you again. Remember, as a medic the first thing you need to do is be able to dodge every one of attacks," she said and charged at him once again. Miyabi kept his eyes open and watched her intently. He dodged the first punch, but was forced back into the tree again after her second kick.

"Miyabi," she waited for him to stand up again, "Think like a medic. What is important?" Miyabi told her, "To dodge all of the opponent's attacks." And she asked him why and he said, "Because a medic is a vital part of the team, their role is to heal the injured members, therefore they must keep themselves alive."

"Good answer, yes that is the role of a medic. So why are we having this training session if a medic's role is only to heal the other members of the team?" she asked him. Miyabi thought for a second before answering, "Because the medic needs to be able to protect themselves from harm. And I also can't have my teammates protecting me all the time."

Sakura smiled at him, "Good answer. Now you have to make this a habit; keep your eyes open at all times, watch your opponent's every move. Eventually you'll be able to see all the little traits behind their attacks; what movements they do before doing a specific attack – it's like knowing their hand seals before they perform their jutsus. So you can prepare yourself to dodge it or use it to an advantage if you want to be able to fight like me and Shishou."

Miyabi nodded, "I also want to be able to fight." Sakura returned the nod, "Then let's continue." Their training session went on for a couple more hours before a loud "Get back here Kurogane!" was heard. Sakura stopped and turned her head in the direction of Ryuu's voice. Said owner of that voice was clearly still trying to vent out his frustration on his poor teammate through their spar. Kurogane was more than happy to oblige until he ran out of energy. Now Ryuu was just chasing Kurogane around, trying to land a punch on him. Sakura walked over to them and grabbed Ryuu by the back of his shirt, and stopped Kurogane by holding her arm out in front of him.

"Ryuu, I'm sure I told you two to spar together, but I didn't ask you to make sure Kurogane was dead," Sakura frowned a little bit at Ryuu. Waiting a minute so that Ryuu had calmed down, she let go of him and Miyabi jogged up to join them all. Ryuu looked away from Sakura and muttered, "I'm sorry Kurogane; I got a little carried away." Kurogane gaped a little at Ryuu and recovered with a smile, "No worries."

Sakura suggested that they go grab a snack and then return for some more training. So off they went to the closest dango shop they could find. Settling themselves at a table they ordered tea and dango. After their short meal they returned to the training grounds. This time Kurogane was paired with Miyabi and Sakura with Ryuu. She instructed Kurogane to practice his taijutsu because it needed to be improved, but also because it could be used to help Miyabi train, "Don't get frustrated if Miyabi tries to dodge them all, he's supposed to be doing that." She patted Kurogane's head, much to his displeasure, before he and Miyabi bounded off to the other end of the field. This left herself and Ryuu.

Said pupil was staring intently at her, trying to figure out when she would pull a surprise move on him. But it never came. Sakura simply stood and stared back, thinking deep. Sakura knew that Ryuu was skilled at fighting; it was one of his highest marks back in the academy. But occasionally he would either make a wrong move or additional attack that didn't exactly fit. Basically, it lacked flow. With her decision made up in her mind, she told him, "We're going to sharpen your taijutsu."

Ryuu, a bit miffed, knew that she was right. He, too, noticed he'd sometimes pull an extra move that cause the opponent to change the flow of the battle. Of course, he'd never admit it, and tried very hard to become better so that it would never get noticed. But it's just so damn hard to trick your teacher. So he simply nodded and waited for more instructions.

This is the first time he hasn't complained about my criticism.

She adjusted her stance and said, "This will be a non-chakra, straight taijutsu battle. I'm going to come at you seriously and with all my strength." She slid out her right foot, completing her stance.

"Ryuu, you need to fight back seriously with everything you got," she instructed, and he nodded. "We will fight rounds, and after each round, we will go over what went wrong together and fix it. Practice it. Until your body understands what it means to be fluid. Okay?"

"Yes, sensei," Ryuu said, seriously, and took his stance. Immediately he charged at her, sending punches to her upper body. By doing this, Sakura had to use her arms to block the punches. This also forced her backwards, making it hard to kick Ryuu because she had to use her legs to move backwards. Ryuu then aimed one punch to her elbow and another to her other shoulder. Being the points on the outside of her body, she was forced to rotate her arms away from her chest, leaving it wide open. Ryuu took this chance and kneed Sakura in the stomach, just as she was forced back against a tree.

Sakura coughed, but managed to grab a hold of Ryuu's wrists. Using the tree for support, she forced Ryuu's arms up and away, kneed him back in the stomach, which sent him flying a couple of meters away.

He quickly did a back-flip and landed on his feet. With the force of being sent back, he rebounded and charged at her again. Just as he was about to reach her though, she grabbed on to one of the lowest branches of the tree and sprung herself up. Sort of like a jump, using the tree branch and park to keep herself up. And then using the tree she jumped away from him, just as Ryuu crashed forehead first into the tree's rough bark.

He groaned at the pain as he pulled his face away. He started turning, getting ready to attempt a strike on Sakura again when his arm was grabbed, twisted, and pinned against him. Ryuu groaned in a sign of defeat and additional pain, and said, "I give."

Sakura freed his arm and took a few steps back, "I guess that's the end of this first round." Ryuu backed away from the tree and rubbed at his forehead. He turned towards her when she asked, "Do you know what you did wrong?" To anyone else it might have sounded like she was scolding a naughty child, but he knew better.

"I took the opening and kneed you in the stomach, but I didn't secure the arms I had outstretched from the punches prior. When I charged at you I was also leaning my body forward to much, and couldn't stop myself."

Sakura nodded, "And what else?"

"I didn't recover fast enough. And… I also showed my back to the enemy." Ryuu finished, hanging him head low.

Sakura smiled and put a finger under his chin, lifting his head up gently. As if accepting an apology, she told him, "Its fine if you know. So let's work together to overcome them and improve, alright?"

Ryuu let out the smallest smile and nodded. For the next few hours they worked together on the flaws in his taijutsu. And by the time the sun was starting to set, Ryuu could proudly say that he was now confident in his execution of taijutsu. Sakura also noted that she would have to send him to Lee for more in-depth training.

She gathered her boys and was about to announce a trip to Ichiraku when an ANBU member flickered into their training ground. With a mask like a hawk, but a voice so serious, Sakura was told to head to the Hokage's Office for an important meeting. Of course, he also noted it was only her that was being summoned.

She nodded and the ANBU poofed away to continue his tasks. She turned to her boys and ruffled their heads, "Good job today boys. Unfortunately I'm being called in by the Hokage so I can't treat you to dinner. I also don't know how long it'll last so you're dismissed for today. I'll see you all bright and early, same place."

She got nods from her team and immediately disappeared in a burst of smoke, reappearing in the Hokage's Office. She looked around with the slightest movement of her head and saw a familiar pineapple head and a long-time friend from Suna. She turned towards the Hokage, bowed, and awaited instructions.

"Temari, Shikamaru, and Sakura, as Hokage and on behalf of the Kazekage, I hereby appoint you to an Double S-Rank Mission. Do you accept?" She asked, and they all replied yes.

"Very well. Here are the details."

---

Dun, dun, dun. Cliffhanger!


	12. Rarity

Chapter: 12

Author's Note: Month long break is the best thing I've had since fall semester started. I must apologize heavily to my readers of Sakura-sensei. Basically I had chapter 11 on my computer, half finished. And I just finished it off and posted it earlier today. And another reason to apologize, more or less Culinary School has been hard, muscle ache inducing, but fun. So I've been spending all my free time passing out in bed. But now that I'm free till middle of January, I'm going to hopefully update with a few more chapters. I'll try to make this one uber lengthy for you all. To show my love for your support!

---

Sakura swallowed hard. A Double S-Rank mission, it's been a while since she had to go on one. She listened intently to her mentor's words.

"There was been recent activity between Wind and Fire countries in the north west of Fire," Tsunade watched for reactions. She continued a moment later, "As you know, situated between our two countries in the north is Rain."

Sakura's eyes widened a fraction, "Akatsuki?"

Tsunade nodded, "Yes."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. A lot of Akatsuki members died a long time ago, a majority of them done in by the Konoha 15; she just couldn't believe it.

"Of course, there has been no solid evidence of such. However, black and red cloaks have been reported around Rain. That is why I'm sending the three of you on this mission. It is part scouting, part information gathering, and if necessary – assassination.

"You three will go as ANBU. Of course, because we're short on hands at the moment, you'll be sent first. When more capable hands return, I will send them as back up.

"Shikamaru, this is where I would like you to think of who to send as back up. Of course, in this mission, you are the strategist, and Temari as both defence and offence. As for Sakura, you will double as both a medic and assassin.

"I'm sure information gathering shouldn't be a problem, given your smarts and of course, Temari's infinity with the wind." At this Temari smirked.

"However, that doesn't mean you should all get carried away. There are lot of mysteries involved in this situation and it's starting to get to both the Kazekage and myself. Go out there and find out everything, the list is in this scroll." She tossed a scroll at Shikamaru.

"As ANBU, this mission will remain top secret. You will be gone for an unknown period of time. The Chuunin exams which are in a couple of months will not be affected by your absences; I have Shizune and Genma working on it in your steed. As for Sakura, you must find a replacement sensei for your genin team.

"You have the rest of the night to pack and figure things out. I want you at the gates at 7, sharp. I will give you another scroll then, as I still need to compile some more things.

"Failure is not an option." She looked hard into the eyes of her soldiers.

"I expect you to all succeed and return alive. Is that clear?" She questioned them. Three resolute pairs of eyes stared right back at her, "Yes, Hokage!"

"Good. Dismissed!" Tsunade smiled a little as the team before her disappeared. Tsunade sank back into her chair and sighed. She turned her chair around and looked out at the night sky. Letting out another tired sigh, she faced her desk again. Pulling out a fresh scroll she began to write down more notes for this mission.

***

Back at Sakura's apartment, she walked up to the front door to find it unlocked. Like her mentor, Sakura also sighed and walked into to find Naruto and Sai lounging on her couch eating ramen. She closed the door behind her and traded in her sandals for slippers, walking up to them. Naruto turned his head and told her, "We brought take out from Ichiraku's but you weren't here so we kind of let ourselves in."

Sakura noted Naruto was simply stating the obvious as she stared at the portable thermo-delivery box with Ichiraku stamped on the side. She nodded at them and told them she'd be back in a few, and then she disappeared into her room.

After I quick shower and change, she returned to the living room, sitting in between the boys and taking out her share of miso ramen. Naruto walked away and return a minute later with reheated broth and added it to her noodles. Thankful for this hot meal, Sakura dug in without reservation. A couple more bowls later on behalf of Naruto, they sat quietly watching the television.

"So I ran into your team, and they said ANBU called you to the office for something?" Naruto asked with utmost curiosity. It was the middle of the night and Sakura really felt like sleeping, but there were so many things she still needed to do. She got up and took the bowls with her into the kitchen and started washing them.

"Yeah, Tsunade gave me a mission with Shikamaru and Temari. Can't give any more details though," she said as she washed Naruto's extra-large bowls. Naruto nodded in understanding, "So I suppose it must be ANBU work then."

Sakura hummed an answer while she passed the bowls over to Sai to dry. Naruto got off the couch too and helped put the bowls back into the delivery box. Sakura dried her hands on a towel and told them to stay for the night since it was late anyways. Sai gladly took to the couch, pulling out his sketch pad and inking away. Naruto yawned, humbly accepting her offer and took up residence in her guest room.

Sakura returned to her own room and began packing. She took out her ANBU uniform and mask, setting it next to her pack on the bed. She packed efficiently and quietly. When she was sure she had everything necessary, and double checked just in case, she zipped it up. Walking into the adjoined bathroom, she changed into the standard uniform, minus the white chest plates. White really did stand out in rain, dark, countries. Looping the pack around her waist, and sheathing a katana which hung loosely under the pack, she opened her window.

Before leaving she went checked up on a sleeping Naruto. Smiling, she closed his door and went downstairs to find Sai still inking away. She stood behind him and admired his painting for a moment. Then softly she told him, "I'm heading over to the Hospital to gather some things. Lock the entry points before you both sleep and again when you both leave, alright?"

Sai nodded and she walked away for a moment, only to come back with a big heavy blanket. "This will keep you warm if you get cold. And you probably will if you keep wearing that cropped jacket." Sakura pulled a slight face – of course she didn't really mean it – and deposited the blanket on the other end of the couch.

Sai told her to take care and off she went, into her room, and out its window. Bounding in the direction of the hospital, she took a moment to stop on top of the roof her genin team lived in. She peered down at the roof tiles and sent out a small wave of chakra. Noting that her students were asleep, she nodded to no one in particularly and bounded off again.

Reaching the hospital, she entered through her office window, and opened her office door. She just wanted a little more light to flood in, but didn't want to turn on all her office lights. She walked over to her cabinet and pulled out a couple of scrolls, tucking them into her pant pockets. Walking over to her desk, she quickly scribbled a note of absence and stuck it on her door should anyone come looking for her tomorrow.

Leaving again through the window, she dropped down a couple of floors into the labs and opened the shelves, searching for some vials. After scanning through a couple, she picked out what she needed. Carefully putting them in her side pouch, she closed the shelves and left.

Lastly, she dropped by Shikamaru's home, landing on the porch outside his room. Sakura let herself in, knowing full well he was awake, thinking, and too lazy to open the door himself. A rustling sound was heard down the hall, most likely Shikaku – Shikamaru's father – sensing her presence and returning to sleep knowing that she was an ally.

She sat herself down across from him and the scrolls littering the floor. She glanced at him before picking on up and skimming it. Clearly, Shikamaru was trying to think of good back-ups to send. An hour or so later, they had come up with a list. He swiftly wrote down his choices onto a small blank scroll, pocketing it. He would hand it to Tsunade at the gates when they left.

After that was settled, he pulled over the only closed scroll on his bed and looked over at his teammate. "You want to know what's inside too, right?" He asked in a lazy drawl. Sakura smiled, because that was one of the reasons why she came.

"It can wait another hour or so. I wanted to ask if I could enter the Nara forest and gather some herbs? I thought packing some now would be a lot safer than trying to get a hold of them later."

Shikamaru nodded, "You know you're always welcomed on our land, sometimes I think we grow them specifically for you."

Sakura laughed lightly and agreed to it, because the soil on Nara property was just so rich, and perfect to grow the hardest medicinal herb. And she took advantage of it by always bringing a couple of plants and pods every time she returned from a mission, and asking Shikamaru and Yoshino to help her plant them.

With that, she got up and leaped into the forest, knowing where to get what she wanted. Shikamaru glanced at the clock, noting it was 4 in the morning. He stuck his hand under his bed and searched around until he hit something hard. Pulling out his mask, he set it on the bed next to his pack.

_I can't believe I went to all the trouble to pick on a few people for back-up. I didn't really need to open the scrolls, but it was more troublesome having to pull the information out of my brain. And now I've made a mess all over the floor. I should clean it up but it's too much of a bother. But Temari will be here soon for a briefing, and if she'd just cause a ruckus if she saw this mess. It's a pain in the ass having to clean, but it saves me the trouble of having to listen to anyone nag…_

Shikamaru pulled himself and started to put away the scrolls. Rolling them up and placing them on his bed. Noting he'd have to return them to the Tsunade as well. Half an hour later, Temari showed up at his porch, letting herself in like Sakura did. This time another rustling noise was made down the hall, and it was Yoshino getting up extra early to begin the day. Sakura came back 15 minutes after Temari's arrival and they all sat down for the briefing.

Shikamaru opened the scroll and set it out in the middle of their circle. It was a rather long scroll, and they each read parts of it.

"Dang, why does the Hokage have to be so demanding," Shikamaru complained, but no one paid attention to it. After some more discussion the scroll was rolled and placed in Shikamaru's other pant pocket. Yoshino came by just then to let them know breakfast was ready.

The girls apologized for intruding and gladly accepted the meal. They all sat at the table and ate quietly and quickly. When it was almost time to meet at the gate, they thanked Shikamaru's mother for her hospitality and bid the Nara couple farewell.

Bounding over the Hokage Mountain, they made their way towards the main gate. "Hey guys, I've got to meet my genin team at the bridge for a couple of minutes. I'll see you at the gate in a few!" With that she jumped onto a separate roof, heading in the direction of the bridge.

***

"I wonder what we're going to do today…" Miyabi wondered out loud. Lately they've been learning more and more techniques. And they were all finally getting to improve.

"Tch. I better get some action. All I did yesterday was get beaten by Ryuu and then having missed all my punches at you!" Kurogane stated, slightly irritated that Sakura didn't have time to give him some personal training.

Ryuu smiled, remembering the events of yesterday while leaning against the railing. "Dang, why are we always here if she's never on time!"

"But I am on time today," Sakura told him, standing on the other side of the railing, holding it for support. Ryuu let out something that sounded like, "Gah!" before he jumped to the other end of the bridge. Sakura, delighted, swung over the railing where she stood in front of her team.

Miyabi took one look at her outfit and the mask hanging around her neck and knew she wasn't going to be with them today. "Are you going on a mission, Sakura-sensei?"

Sakura smiled and nodded, "Something's come up so I'm being sent out. I won't be able to train you guys for a while."

"Aw man!" Kurogane yelled out. Clearly unhappy with this change in events. Sakura laughed it off and told them, "I have someone to replace me so you'll still be training. So I expect all of you to do your best and improve your skills. Got it?"

Her boys nodded. "Good. When I come back, I'll be testing your new strengths. So be sure to absorb and apply as much as you can from the other instructors taking care of you."

They nodded again. "Alright. Now I've got to go, so be good and wait at Training Ground 4, where I'll send the substitute." They nodded again and she ruffled their heads. This would be the last time in a while that she did this to them.

"I'm off!" With that she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The boys stood in silence for a moment before Miyabi let out, "There she goes," in a slightly disappointed tone. Ryuu was trying his best not to run after her, trying his best to keep from telling her not to go. And just when he and his comrades and taken a liking to her. Kurogane put his hands behind his head and wondered who she was going to send to train them.

"Let's go after her," Miyabi said, "We haven't even told her goodbye."

The other two paused for a moment and agreed. Together they sprinted towards the main gate where Sakura and her team were already with Tsunade, receiving the last set of instructions. Tsunade ended the discussion when the boys showed up and Sakura turned around to see her team standing there.

Miyabi took a step towards her and hugged her around the waist, "Take care, Sakura-sensei!" Sakura, shocked by this sudden action, couldn't help but hug him back. "Got it."

Next was Kurogane. But he was too manly to hug her, so he grabbed a fistful of the hem of her shirt and told her, "You better not die. I still haven't received my share of training yet!" Sakura laughed lightly and patted his head, "Got it."

Ryuu stood on his spot, grumbling to himself about how his teammates were being so unlike themselves. Sakura was definitely bad for their health. Grudgingly, or so it seemed, he walked over to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her down a bit. "If you don't come back alive, I won't forgive you." And then he inserted a half-hearted glare and sneer for a self-convincing effect.

Sakura's eyes widened a bit before she smiled real big, "Yes sir." She easily managed to free her arms to give them all a big final hug before departing. She backed away and turned towards her team to find them smiling. Even Tsunade was smiling fondly at their group affection.

Sakura pulled the mask on to her face, fastening it. She nodded to her teammates, then to her leader. And in a flash they were gone like the wind.

Tsunade looked at the kids in front of her and told them to hurry and go to Training Grounds 4 where she had just sent the substitute instructor. The kids nodded, bowed to the Hokage and went off as instructed.

When they reached the grounds, they were met with Lee, his genin team, and a man that looked like the older version of Lee. Ambling up to their fellow comrades, they gave a customary bow. Kurogane couldn't help but feel curious about Lee and his jounin buddy.

"Welcome Team 12! Sakura-san has left you three in my care for the time being, and I have been instructed to train you!" Lee claimed, rather excitedly. "Of course, I cannot guide all 6 of you at once so I have asked my former teacher, Gai-sensei, for help. Together we shall ignite your youths!"

Behind Lee, Gai gave his Nice Guy pose, and his students. Well, they silently sighed. "Welcome to hell," Tetsu told them. Raiko pinched the bridge of his nose and warned the newcomers to avoid any potential gifts that might come their way.

"Well then. Let's start 100 laps around Konoha!" Lee shouted most vigorously.

_Sakura-sensei, what the hell were you thinking...?_


	13. Come Home Already

Chapter: 13

Author's Note: I'm just rolling them out one after another. Have you all forgiven me yet? haha.

---

_How long has it been?_

The rain hit the wet stone outside the cave.

_I don't think I can hear myself think anymore._

Beside her, Shikamaru was huffing, trying to catch his breath. Behind her, Temari was warming herself up by the small fire.

_I hate Rain Country._

Putting a stop to her internal ranting, she focused on Shikamaru and placed a hand over his lungs. Glowing a soft green, she calmed down his heart rate and helped him breathe better with her hands. "This is what you get for smoking," Sakura said with a small grimace. She didn't really mean it, because Shikamaru would never stop smoking.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Sakura," Shikamaru let out in a small voice. Sakura instructed him to relax and sleep. God knows he needed it. He picked himself up and lied down on the other side of the fire. With a wool tarp, he pulled it over himself and swiftly fell asleep.

Temari let out a small yawn, but had refused to fall asleep. Not that she could anyways, in this ridiculously cold weather. Sakura glanced at her friend and received assurance that Temari would be alright. The medic nodded and walked towards the cave entrance.

_And here I thought rain was supposed to be comforting, not annoying._

She frowned slightly, staring into the fog created by the endless rain.

'_That's what you get when you've been in this wet dump for months on end. When was the last time you saw regular foliage?' _questioned that second voice in her mind. Inner Sakura had begun appearing regularly again, now that Sakura often called on her strength in dire times of need.

_I don't even know what day it is anymore. I just want to go home. I miss everyone; Naruto, Sai, Tsunade, Ino-pig, my little boys..._

'_The sooner we get these mysteries solved, the sooner that wish will come true. Work hard,' _Inner Sakura told herself before disappearing.

Since the mission began, they had been gaining clues but never finding a solution. Just when they thought they had a solid lead, it led to dead end. This mission was testing their patience. After being in Rain Country for two months, they were getting pissed. Eventually after hoping to other towns within Rain, aside from the border towns, they finally got something.

It could have been considered a helpful hint, but she wasn't sure if the price was worth it. What they stumbled into was a den of rogues, missing ninjas, and escaped convicts. Apparently they had been posing as the Akatsuki, using the fear that came with it, to pillage and kill.

Worse than that, as it was a time of war, several new S to A rank missing ninjas had joined the fray. Sakura and her team had barely made it out of there if Temari didn't _Kamaitachi_ the ceiling into a cave-in. And that was only the first encounter.

Since then the numbers in the New Akatsuki had dropped significantly, but they were really persistent people. Just when Sakura thought they were safe, a couple more claiming to be from Akatsuki pop up. Of course, the enemies didn't survive, but there were times when either Temari or Shikamaru ended up in a state of near death. And Sakura wouldn't have either of their deaths on her hands.

So the question was why hadn't they retreated yet? _Because we found the people, but not the merchandise. _It was like buying a disc, and having only found the empty circle in the center. What she wanted were the contents, and she'd be damned if she didn't find them soon.

Sakura scanned what she could, and returned to the fire. She took her seat by the fire while Temari got up and went towards her fan that leaned against the cave walls. Her fan was in serious need of repair. Three stars had become two, as an opponent had managed to make a cut in her fan. This hugely dampened her wind techniques.

"Tomorrow we'll head into a town bordering Wind, I remember there being one with a Weapon Repair shop," Temari told them.

Sakura nodded in response. She went and lied down beside Shikamaru, because that was the only blanket available. With them on the run, supplies were scarce. She was beginning to wonder how long they'd last.

'_If you think like that again, I'll smack you upside the head. Tsunade told us to come home alive. And we'll do just that," _her Inner self reminded her before returning to rest once again.

In the morning, or what they assumed it to be, everyone silent worked to close down camp. They didn't even bother to clean it up. There was no point. So they strapped on their gear and headed out. Pulling cloaks over their heads, they bound southward towards the desert. If it was day at this time, the rogues running after them wouldn't bother to chase them. Nobody liked the heat of the desert, especially those surrounded by the wet rain on a daily basis.

***

"Take that!" Miyabi punched Kurogane, sending him flying into a tree. The tree split at the force, and Kurogane groaned in pain.

Ryuu, standing off to the side was rather impressed. _You've gotten stronger, Miyabi_. He smiled a little. But it was quickly replaced with a slight frown as he tried to come up with ways to defeat his partner in their 3-way spar.

The oldest of the three charged at the youngest, preparing his fists. He punched and kicked, but Miyabi continued to dodge it all. Ryuu sucked his teeth just as Miyabi punched him. But he burst into smoke was replaced with a log. Miyabi stood straight and looked in all possible directions for Ryuu. He took the chance to glance at Kurogane, noticing he was down for the count, trapped under the fallen tree.

Ryuu took this chance to flicker in behind Miyabi and hit the pressure point by his shoulder blade. This caused Miyabi to stiffen, as he could no longer move. "You got me, Ryuu." And the spar was over.

Ryuu breathed a sigh of relief as he pressed another pressure point on Miyabi, allowing him to move again. Together they went over to Kurogane and freed him. They helped him up and Kurogane thanked them while patting the dirt off this clothes. "Dang, Miyabi, since when could you punch like that?"

Miyabi smiled brightly and told them, "Lee-sensei taught me. But I'm nowhere as good as Sakura-sensei though."

And suddenly everyone became rather quiet. It had been four months since they last saw their teacher at the main gate as she left for a top secret mission. They told her to come back alive. And they missed her. Team Twelve was beginning to wonder if their instructor was alive. Miyabi shook his head; he couldn't think like that. _Sakura-sensei definitely has to be alive. Her mission's just more…difficult than it seemed._

Naruto suddenly popped in behind them, and noticing the tension, tried to change the topic by inviting them out to ramen. Agreeing that they needed to change the atmosphere, they gladly accepted and went with him. At Ichiraku, they met up with Naruto's own genin team and ate lunch together. After small talk about how missions were going, Naruto paid the bill and their teams went their separate way.

The boys headed towards the park, where they hung around on the jungle gym till the sun set.

_Sensei... where are you?_

***

"SHANNARO!" Sakura let out her signature cry as she landed an upper-cut on a rather bulky man sending his chest plate through his collarbone, effectively killing him. She pulled her fist back elbowed the other rogue behind her, putting his life to an end as well.

Without looking, she could sense that her teammates were holding their own. They surprisingly had the advantage considering they were surrounded by fifty rogues. "Shikamaru!" she shouted before jumping into the air, only to return down with a punch to the earth.

Although the earth was muddy, it did well in splashing upwards, smacking rogues in the face. With their vision impaired, Shikamaru took wires, looping them around his opponents' necks and effectively cutting off their air circulation.

Sakura leaped into the tree behind Temari, and said wind mistress finished it off with her summon technique. The battle was over, and the disposed of the bodies as quickly as possible.

It had been a week after they ventured into a town in Wind and fixed Temari's fan. They also restocked their supplies, changed their gear, and renewed their determination. Two nights of solid sleep at the inn did miracles on their motivation. Now all fixed up, they decided to finish this once and for all. Because everyone just wanted to go home already.

The team of three leaped further into the forest until they reached Amegakure. They entered as easily as they had the first time, since the gate lacked guards. They head towards the tallest building, having gathered information that it used to be Pein's hideout. And most likely, the current lead of the New Amatsuki would be there.

They scaled the building with chakra, entering from different sides of the building. Sakura broke into the room first, landing a chakra-laden punch on the first face her eyes landed on. _White hair, blue eyes, stick thin; got him_. Said leader crashed head first into the old bookshelves and through the walls. He came out on the other side of the building only to be met by Shikamaru's _Kagemane no Jutsu_. Bound and secured, Temari used a lesser wind technique to tear up their mystery man a bit. Sakura came on to the scene a moment later and they began the interrogation.

***

"Thank you for escorting me here! I can finally start on those paintings!" a man in his 30s exclaimed to the set of ninjas in front of him. He thanked them again and walked into the Hokage Tower to drop off the payment. Meanwhile Choji's team and Team 12 found themselves outside, with Choji writing up the report. A while after the man left, they walked into the Missions Room, handing over the reports.

Iruka congratulated one a double mission done well, and handed over the payments. Choji divided them amongst the genin and said he'd treat them all to yakiniku. Ryuu, Kurogane, and Miyabi politely declined Choji's offer, knowing very well they wouldn't be getting much of a meal anyways. Choji's team left after saying goodbye leaving Twelve 12 standing in the Missions Room.

The boys turned towards the Hokage, seated in the middle of the table. They walked up to her and asked her to same question they've been asking since Day 1, "Is Sakura-sensei coming back soon?"

And as always, Tsunade would never have an answer for them. It was always, "She'll be back soon," or, "She'll be back before you know it if you focus on your training."

Tsunade was about to open her mouth, to feed them yet another no-lead answer, Shizune appeared in the room. "Tsunade-sama, Shikamaru's team has returned! They're in the hospital in the emergency room!"

Tsunade stood abruptly and instantly disappeared with Shizune in toll. Not a second later they were in the hospital, outside the emergency room asking for answers. They came face to face with a bandaged Temari and Shikamaru. The former was nervously pacing back and forth while the latter had hands folder under his chin as he started intently at the door.

A nurse rushed out and pulled Tsunade and Shizune in, quickly saying something about Sakura and severe injuries. The two didn't waste any time healing Sakura.

Outside, the boys ran through the hallway until they saw Shikamaru and Temari. The blonde stopped in her pacing and embraced the boys in a hug, mumbling, "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" over and over again. Miyabi took one look around the hallway and noticed Sakura was missing.

Kurogane, eyes wide, pointed at the ER door and asked them, "Is Sakura-sensei in there...?" Temari gave another tight squeeze before backing off entirely, resuming her pacing. Neither had the heart to answer, because saying it would confirm it.

Ryuu, slightly pissed at the two adults for being unable to protect their sensei, stopped in front of Shikamaru and grabbed his vest by the collar. "IS SHE IN THERE?" He yelled his rage and hate clearly evident. Shikamaru looked away.

"Yes."

In an instant, it felt like their worlds were crumbling. When they had first met her, they were taken to the hospital to witness Sakura saving an ANBU from death in the same room they now stood outside. They knew what injuries Sakura could possibly have to land herself in that room. And just when they were getting to know each other, just when they were beginning to form that bond as a team, Sakura leaves for a deadly mission.

Ryuu put his hands down by his side, clenching them to the point where blood was seeping out from the cuts his nails made.

Miyabi walked over to Ryuu and guided him to sit on the bench. He coaxed Ryuu into opening his palm so Miyabi could heal it. Kurogane walked over, and Miyabi continued to tell them that she'd be alright. He said it over and over, reassuring himself and everyone else that she'd be alright, she'd live, and she'd be back with them again.

A couple of minutes later Naruto and Sai arrived. Shortly after a nurse stepped out and turned to Naruto. "Naruto-san, Tsunade wants you to come in and lend your chakra," was all she needed to say before he brushed past her into the room. Sai walked over to Shikamaru and put a hand on his shoulder, "Ugly will be alright. The bucket's too big for her to kick over."

Shikamaru let out a snort and leaned back against the sterile white wall, "If you say so."

---

Think she's going to make it? (Well if she doesn't that's kind of the end of the story... Haha.)


	14. Doomed as Genin

Chapter: 14

Author's Note: This may be the last one before I go back to college next week. The life of a culinary student is hard. ;A;

Oh, I might upload a side-story soon. And to all those inquiring about romance in this story – chances are, slim to none. Does that mean you'll stop reading? Dang. Then again, there will be side-stories for your amusement.

---

The lights turned off. Slowly the door opened and Naruto walked out. He nodded, fatigued, to all present and disappeared in a plume of smoke. The next to emerge was Tsunade, followed closely by Shizune.

Ryuu turned around to face the leader of their village, and Miyabi was the first to inquire, "Is Sakura-sensei okay!?"

Tsunade laid a tired hand on the boy's head. "Squirt, your teacher's going to be just fine." She stepped away as their tiny bodies crumbled to the floor in relief. She sidestepped over to Shikamaru, "Go home and get some rest, God knows your conscious needs it. I want a written report by the end of a week, and a summarized oral report tomorrow afternoon."

She turned on everyone once again and told them, "Her life is no longer in danger, but she is unconscious, maybe even in a coma. We'll just have to wait and see how long it'll take for her to wake up. Now then, I'll be back to check on her in the morning. All of you go home and get some rest." With that the Lady Hokage and her assistant made their way out of the building. Another medic came out shortly after and told them Sakura had been wheeled to a room to rest, and they could visit her the next day.

All present left the hospital together, and Sai took it upon himself to see Sakura's team home. They stopped outside a small apartment door and bid their senior a good night. All three collapsed wordlessly on their futons, letting sleep pull them into the comforts of their futons – happy that their Sakura-sensei would make it.

Sleep-filled eyes opened to the rays of sunlight coming through the window. Three sets of eyes awoke to the possibility of being able to see their teacher at long last. Without missing a bit, each completed their morning routine in record time and made a mad dash for the hospital. As soon as they slid through the doors, they ambled their way to the receptionist, asking hurriedly for Sakura's room.

A quick, "543," and they were on the way, rushing up the stairs – careful to avoid and dodge everyone in their path. They paused outside of the room and willed themselves to go in; preparing to accept whatever condition she would be in. All hands on the handle, and together they pulled back the sliding door. They burst into the room, landing on the floor in an unceremonious heap.

Straightening themselves, they noted the famous Copy Ninja sitting on the window sill, reading this green book. Kakashi looked up and his eye crinkled, signalling a smile beneath the mask. The boys bowed slightly in greeting and walked over to their teacher's bed. On her left was an IV bag, and behind that was a machine to monitor her heart rate.

Kurogane and Miyabi each took a side of the bed, leaving Ryuu to lean awkwardly at the end of the bed behind his teammate. Miyabi took her warm hand and caressed it, eyes brimming with oncoming tears. Kurogane held her other hand, but in a soft grasp, afraid to apply pressure. "Sakura-sensei, welcome home; please, won't you wake up?" Miyabi asked in a whisper.

Kakashi looked at the genins and saw a reflection of old Team 7. He snapped his book shut and placed it in his pouch as he stood. Giving the kids another once-over, he told them, "She might wake up if you keep talking to her." And with that he was gone in a blink of the eye.

All eyes moved from the window back to the patient in the bed.

"Sensei, while you were gone, Lee-sensei and Gai-sensei trained us. Lee-san placed weights on our legs and arms, and made us run laps around Konoha in them."

"Lee-sensei also made us practice dodging and basic taijutsu with those weights on, as if running laps wasn't enough."

Ryuu snorted. "They even gave us green spandex."

"Ah, but don't worry, we kindly refused the offer like you told us too. So when you open your eyes again, you don't have to worry about seeing us in them!"

"Neji-sensei also helped us improve our defences, and Tenten-sensei with our weaponry and aim."

"Naruto-sensei taught us how to do some cool techniques, like the shadow clone jutsu."

Kurogane grumbled. "He was going to teach us something else too but then Yamato-sensei did this weird jutsu were wood sprouted from the ground and encased Naruto-sensei."

"Sakura-sensei, please wake up. We want you to see how strong we've become!"

Ryuu glared at his teacher's unmoving form, "We'll spar and we'll defeat you for sure!"

.

.

.

And the pattern repeated itself daily, for an entire week until visiting hours were over and they had to go home for the day. In between training with the other instructors, they always had time to visit and speak to her, hoping she could hear them.

***

"_Shikamaru, run!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, dashing furiously in their direction. _

_Just when she reached them, a white, blinding light came from behind her signalling the explosion tag's set-off. _

_Bodies flew in all directions; fire blazed in the general vicinity._

"_Sakura!" a voice to her east shouted. Said kunoichi had no time to stop and think; she picked up the battered Shikamaru and leaped in the direction of her caller. Stopping to bend down a little, she lifted a paralyzed Temari and leaped far, far away from the scene._

_Her legs gave out a couple of kilometres later and she crumbled to the floor. Setting down the heavy weights on her shoulders, she leaned back to examine her comrades. She took a look at her surroundings and expanded a chakra net, to catch any signals within range._

_Double checking to make sure they were safe and alone, she set herself to fixing her comrades._

***

"-we won't be able to enter the Chuunin exams if---" a fading voice said to her, somewhere in the dark.

Sakura opened her eyes and tried very hard to focus. Yet nothing, all she could see was the pitch black.

"_Hey, Sakura!" another voice shouted._

Said person spun around only to come face to face with herself. Except this copy of her was black and white, and had something written on her forehead.

Slowly, she stepped towards this new entity and wondered where the hell in Fire Country was she. As if reading her mind, the monochrome reflection told her, _"In the inner confines of your mind, duh!"_

She stepped back as if trying to get a better look of this monochrome being. "Who are you?"

Her reflection's nose flared as if in rage. _"Are your eyes too small or is my forehead not wide enough for you!?" _She pointed to the kanji written across said forehead, reading "Inner." It took a second for her to realize this was her inner persona. A personality she rarely let out. Deeming it a rare chance, she conversed with her inner being for a while until that same voice from the endless ceiling called to her again.

"-and they we're all doomed---" came a more sarcastic sound. A bit further away.

Sakura's eyebrows snapped together. Why was she hearing more voice than one? Was she insane? Maybe she was dead?

Her inner persona rolled her eyes. _"Hey, it's all fun and rainbows to be able to talk to you, but don't you think it's time to face the world again?"_

Sakura looked rather puzzled. _"In here it's just us, but out there it's all the people you know, friends, and loved ones. They're waiting for you, you know."_

Realization seemed to dawn on her, and she looked around her, "But how am I supposed to get out?" Her inner persona smirked in delivish glee, and raised her foot. With a swift kick to her outer person's gut, Sakura was pushed into a – for the lack of a better word – black hole.

***

"-we're doomed to forever remain genin because our sensei can't wake up to sign us up for the Exams."

"Come again?" a voice croaked beneath them.

Three out of four sets of eyes in that room widened and instantly met the last set beneath them. Sakura smiled warily at the expressions on each of her boys' faces. Miyabi, being the first to come back to reality, poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside stand. Kurogane, being the second, helped Sakura into a sitting position. Said teacher gladly accepted the glass and began drinking.

Another glass or two later, and Sakura looked a little less pale. She smiled a bit more at her little brats and ruffled Miyabi's head. "Did you miss me?"

Their bodies stiffened, and it took Sakura two seconds to register that her genin team had just pounced her now awake person. Chuckling softly she hugged them back.

"Glad to see you awake, Sakura" came a voice from the door.

Tsunade walked in with a clipboard under her arm. Sakura nodded to her master, "If this is the response I get from them, then I wouldn't mind blanking out a couple more times."

Ryuu and Kurogane shot her a look that clearly had _Don't you dare_, written all over it. Miyabi simply paled at the chance of this happening again in the near future.

"Don't wet your pants, she's just joking," her mentor chided the genin in the room, "Now then, one check-up and we'll go from there." Having that said, all three boys were told to step outside for a short moment.

Two minutes later, Tsunade emerged from the room with Sakura behind her. "Don't forget to sign the papers downstairs. You've been asleep for two weeks, so start with some lighter exercises before going all out in any spars. And I'll see you in the office tomorrow morning for… other matters." Tsunade cast a quick glance towards the genin before departing.

Sakura stretched her neck, and started walking downstairs to the lobby. Her team followed her, and continued doing so as she signed the papers and stepped outside. She took a look sky and turned to her team.

"I'll meet you outside of Ichiraku's in half an hour; I'm going home to clean up." She stretched her hands out and ruffled the heads of her team before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Ryuu mumbled about unappreciative instructors while they made their way to the famed Ramen stall.

Half an hour later, the boys were seated and Sakura arrived to find not only her team, but Naruto's as well. She received a bone-crushing hug before being able to sit down and place her order, to which Naruto claimed he would pay for. Smiling at the opportunity, she ordered a large bowl or pork ramen and waited patiently for it.

She turned to her long-time teammate and smiled, asking how his team was doing. Not long after she got her order, everyone began to eat happily, making small talk about each other's progress. Clearly, Sakura had missed out a lot while she was away, up until today when she awoke.

Her team finished their meal and Sakura laid down enough money to cover her team's bill. She waved to Naruto and said they were going to train. She walked down the streets in silence towards Training Ground 4, watching contentedly as her genin team bickered over pointless issues in front of her.

Reaching their destination, the group stopped in the middle of the field. Her students turned towards her and Sakura pulled out her leather gloves. With a smirk she challenged them, "Let's see how strong you've all gotten. This will be a three on one, but don't any of you dare go easy on me now!"

Her boys reflected that same smirk and with a "Ready, set, go!" they all disappeared, hiding themselves.

Sakura slid into a stance, shifting her eyes across the bushes and trees. "Hm, you brats are better at hiding than before. But it takes from than that to hide from me!"

---

A/N: I think I'll write up their whole training session in the next chapter. For now I'm going to bed. Trying to fix my sleep schedule before classes start next week.


	15. And it Begins

**Chapter**: 15

**Author's Note**: Holy crap I haven't updated since January! You are all free to slay me for my forgetfulness. It happens when one is too immersed in another semester of cooking. I'll try to make it up with more updates now that I'm free until September.

* * *

The wind made the grass rustle, but all else was silent. The lone person in the clearing shifted her eyes, searching for her pupils. Sighing inwardly, she straightened herself and closed her eyes; waiting.

It didn't take long before her ears picked up a sound that didn't fit the nature she was surrounded with. Slowly, she reaches into her pouch and pulls out a kunai. It takes all but three seconds to locate the source of breathing before she flings her weapon with pin-point accuracy. Sakura opens her eyes and sees no bodies in sight. _Damn, it wasn't enough to make them come out._

Wishing she had 359 degree vision, she placed her hand back into her pouch; waiting.

On the other side of the clearing behind some bushes laid the rest of Team Twelve. They peered through the greens to stare at their target. Looking at each other, it was silently agreed who would go after her first. The other two crawled to different places and were on stand-by. They would show their instructor how far they've come while she was away.

Rustle, Sakura opened her eyes and somersaulted backwards just in time to miss a slew of shuriken. She glanced in the direction of its origin and saw Miyabi coming towards her. Trading blows with her youngest pupil, it was only time before Kurogane joined into the fray – from behind, in hopes of catching her off guard.

He swung, aiming for her side when she used Miyabi's arm as leverage to pull herself up and over said boy. Pushing away from the two, Kurogane's punch nearly got his teammate. Now it was her turn to hide.

Out in the open they turned their heads in all directions, hoping to see part of her – more particularly, her signature pink hair. Ryuu sucked on his teeth, still in his hiding spot. He watched his teammates as they scanned but to no avail. Moments passed, and they were beginning to get frustrated.

Just when they looked in opposite directions, Miyabi let out a yell just as he was pulled into the earth below him – leaving only his head visible. Kurogane's eyes widened and he jumped into the air and into the trees for safety. But just before he reached a branch, Sakura swung down from one above and said, "Boo!"

He promptly lost momentum and fell to the floor. He berated himself and managed to substitute with a log before a kunai impaled him.

Sakura dropped to the ground and walked over to Miyabi. "I'm out, I guess." He said, and sighed and looked down at the dirt in front of him.

"Not if I free you, and we tag-team," she responded with a grin. Miyabi's eyes lightened at the prospected and agreed to it. Miyabi was uprooted with another jutsu and the slapped hands together in a tag-team sort of display. Sakura leaned down to her new partner and whispered something into his ear. They looked at each other and nodded, all the while grinning.

Miyabi formed some seals and the other two boys could feel his chakra spread out. Miyabi pointed in the general direction of his friends. Sakura and Miyabi both parted in the separate directions and chased after the remaining two.

It was quite a struggle; Kurogane had increased his speed and was able to dodge a majority of what Sakura threw at him. But she was getting closer to him, and she only needed the slightest opening to get him. Miyabi was having more or less the same problem; in terms of speed, Ryuu was certainly faster. He was also stronger too. But Miyabi had a wicked grin on his face that promised more than just capture.

A couple minutes later and Sakura had Kurogane cornered. It didn't take long before Kurogane was tied up and brought back to the clearing. Depositing him gentle on the floor, she turned in the direction of Miyabi and Ryuu and waited. Shortly after, Ryuu was being dragged across the clearing by the ropes he was tied with.

"Nicely done," she congratulated the last standing pupil, "I believe the victors are us. Miyabi looked up at Sakura and grinned, "No sensei-, the victors are **us**."

Before Sakura could even have time to be confused, the ropes that previously tied up her boys fell apart, and she was swiftly pinned to the ground. She blinked a couple times before the situation dawned on her. She smirked, genuinely surprised her students were this good.

"You know, you shouldn't pin down a woman – much less one who just got released from the hospital after being in a two-week coma," she told them, looking at them with such innocent eyes.

"Sakura-se-sensei, that won't work. We won't let you go until you forfeit!" Miyabi tried to sound as bold and confident as possible.

Kurogane grinned in absolute glee at one upping their instructor, "Yeah, we know it's just a trick so you can reverse the pin on us!"

Sakura pouted, "You really won't let go?" The three boys shook their heads vehemently.

"We it's nice to know that I'm so loved when you refuse to let go of me."

"You're not!" Ryuu yelled back.

"Tsk. Well it was worth a try. Alright, I give up," her students looked at her warily, "No tricks planned, promise."

Slowly they got up and off of her and she stood. And grinned, "Gotcha."

They knew it was coming, their eyes widened just as she-

"GAH! Let go!"

-gave them the biggest hug in a long while.

She practically smiled from ear to ear, still glad they somewhat feared her after being away for so long. She let go and stepped back. "I'm proud of the three of you; Team Gai must have really tortured you all while I was away."

Ryuu huffed and glared, "The only real torture we suffered was the involvement of that horrid, horrid, green spandex." She chuckled and tears nearly spilled before she gathered herself, "Point taken. So how about some lunch?"

They headed towards the marketplace and found a quiet little shop to eat some Grass Country-style cuisine. The food was better than they had thought, although Kurogane wasn't very fond of the amount of vegetables. Nevertheless, he ate them all otherwise Sakura wouldn't allow dessert. As soon as they stepped outside after the meal, Sakura was called away by a messenger to deliver her report.

"I guess you three are dismissed for the day, I'm in for a long meeting with Tsunade-shishou. I'll see you all tomorrow!" And with that she jumped to the roofs and made her way towards the tower.

A moment later and Sakura walked into the Hokage's office, and stood before the owner of said office. "Since all three of you are here now," Tsunade looked at the faces before her, "Let's hear the report."

"Right," Shikamaru stepped forward, "four months ago you gave us a double S-ranked mission to scout and gather information on this supposedly returning Akatsuki. We travelled to Rain and scoured the borders of the entire country before going further in. It wasn't until we reached a third of the way into the country from the Sand border before we encountered the so-called Akatsuki.

"It turns out it was just a bunch of assembled missing nin from Amegakure, and a few others namely Kusagakure and Iwagakure. Although 'a bunch' might be an understatement; when we came across their hide-out there were at least 70 of them gathered. Among the group we battled on our first encounter with the New Akatsuki or Fake Akatsuki, several were A-class to S-class. More A than S, considering their level of skills."

Temari continued, "We took out a majority of the present New Akatsuki in the first encounter and were forced to retreat for the time being when we ran low on chakra. From then we were continually chased around Rain looking for places to rest and consequentially forced into battles with more or less similar numbers as the first encounter.

"By the sixth encounter, the numbers had dropped drastically. At this point we believe we might have taken out a good half of the New Akatsuki. However, although the number dropped, the ranked increased. We ended up running into Team Kurenai's Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino, we were able to locate the source of the problem. We ended up tracing it back to Amegakure, which was rather barren of ninja – we assume it was had become more like a normal village rather than a hidden one. Afterward, Team Kurenai had left for Konoha again before we pulled them aside for help.

"There we scaled the highest tower possible and found the ring leader. He was tall, thin man; white hair, blue eyes, no bloodline limit. At least he displayed none. He put up quite the fight, but we managed to capture him and get some answers from him."

Sakura stepped forward and looked at her mentor, "We decided that it would be best to kill him on the spot and did just that. However, he had managed sound an alarm from the tower right before his death. The remaining lot of the New Akatsuki flooded in from all sides, and we were forced to fight our way out. We, unfortunately, could not leave even one alive for interrogation. However, we remained in Rain and combed through the entire country to make sure there were no traces left. We spoke to the border patrols of bordering countries and asked them to keep an eye out for any suspicious rogues that might have snuck into their territory.

"After combing through and finding no more traces, we ran back through the Rain as quick as possible. However, as luck would have it, we bumped into an S-class criminal that claimed to be a part of the New Akatsuki – and apparently, the leader. It turns out the one at the Tower was just a decoy. The battle injured all three of us severely; most of his jutsus were water-based. But we led him into Fire territory and managed to kill him."

Shikamaru concluded, "Sakura managed to heal Temari and I, however, she was the most injured of us all. We brought her back as quick as possible, and had the border patrol carry back the criminal's corpse. And that's where you found us in the hospital."

Tsunade took a moment o let this sink in, "Well, I'm glad that you're all alive. And that this matter has been dealt with. Temari, I will have Gaara informed of this matter. You will remain here to oversee the Chuunin Exams I hope." Temari nodded.

Sakura gasped, "Oh crap, the exams! Tsunade-shishou, have the meeting for nominations begun yet?"

Tsunade smiled at her student, "No, they're tonight at 9. You have plenty of time to consider the nomination." Sakura nodded in thanks, and they were dismissed.

Sakura left the building and leisurely strolled down the streets. Her feet automatically took her to Ichiraku, where she knew she'd find Naruto. And it was only too true when she spot a horrible clash of dull green and bright orange hunched over a bowl of steaming noodles. She slid into the seat beside him at the bar and ordered a miso ramen.

She waited until Naruto finished his bowl before greeting him in an attempt to not having him talk with noodles hanging from his mouth.

"Hi Sakura-chan!" he said, "And Sai!" Sakura turned to see Sai walk in and talk up the seat beside hers.

"Dickless, Ugly," he greeted before ordering a bowl for himself. Sakura sighed, things never change.

"So Naruto, have you considered it?" she asked as a steaming bowl of noodles was set in front of her. It took Naruto a moment before he realized what she meant, "Oh! Yeah, Sakura-chan, I think I'm going to do it. How about you?"

She and Sai split their chopsticks just as his bowl was set down before him. "I think I'll go for it too. They've grown stronger while I was away, and it's shame to say I didn't have any part in helping them though. But, I don't want to hold them back more than I already have with the trouble I've caused – being in a coma and all. If I don't do it now, it'll make them think I didn't see them as strong enough yet – which is the last thing I think about them."

Sai nodded, "You and Naruto were also entered into the Chuunin Exams not long after you became genin, right?"

Naruto swallowed some more noodles, "Yeah – but that was only because he thought Sasuke and I were strong enough. But Sakura was an important factor too, because we couldn't participate unless we entered as a team."

Sakura nodded, long past the whole neglect thing with Kakashi, "Yes, the Chuunin Exams stress the importance of teamwork, intelligence, survival, and especially decision making. It's not just all about beating the daylights out of your opponent." At this she stared pointedly at Naruto.

Naruto, taking no offense, merely continued to drink the bowl of broth. "Hey, back then I had a reason to beat up Neji for what he did to Hinata! I knew better the second time around!" Sakura rolled her eyes and went back to her meal.

Sai, "Actually, I believe it was a moment of utter stupidity. And you passed because you were the only one amongst the peers left as a genin – and didn't want to remain at the bottom level while the others soared higher."

Naruto's brow twitched, "HEY! I caught up, and went even higher! But only I will be the next Hokage! So take that, stupid Sai!"

The girl between the two bickering merely ignored them and continued her meal. Soon it hit 9 and the two were required at the Hokage Tower. Once everyone arrived, the door was shut and Tsunade looked at her subordinates.

"You are here at this moment to nominate your genin teams for the Chuunin Exams. If you feel that your team is ready, than step forward when called to give your nomination. If not, then say so. You will be given three agreement slips for your genins. They will have to sign it and bring it together with them when the first exam starts. Failure to procure three signed slips at the entrance per team means they will be denied into the exams.

"Like many other exams in the past, it will consist of three parts; the written test, the survival test, and then the one on one battle. Should the proctor of the second exam find that too many have passed the second before continuing on to the third, they have permission to reduce the examinees through a one on one battles after the survival test.

"Note that none of you are to tell your teams of the challenges. You can prepare them in any abstract way you choose, but you absolutely cannot tell them what to expect."

Tsunade took a good look at each of the nin standing before her. "Now then, when you are called, come forth and tell me what you have chosen."

"Hyuuga Neji," she called out. He stepped forward, "I nominate team 9 - Uru, Michiko, and Taki for the Chuunin Exams."

She nodded, "Rock Lee." He stepped forward and put his fist to his chest, "I nominate my youthful team 10 - Miyuki, Tetsu, and Raiko for the Chuunin Exams!"

Another nod, "Inuzuka Kiba." He stepped up, "I nominate the new team 8 – Kisuke, Sho and Murasaki for the Chuunin Exams."

Another nod, "Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde stepped up to her desk, "I nominate the new team 7 – Akiba, Akane, and Hiro for the Chuunin Exams, dattebayo," he said with a cheeky grin.

Tsunade sighed, "Akimichi Chouji." He stepped up after Naruto stepped back, "I nominate team 11 – Ikuto, Shiro, and Mizashi for the Chuunin Exams."

She nodded, "Haruno Sakura." Said apprentice stepped up, "I nominate team 12 – Kurogane, Ryuu, and Miyabi for the Chuunin Exams."

Tsunade wrote something down on a piece of paper, "Very well. Your nominations have been noted. Here are the agreement slips. The Chuunin Exams will take place in two weeks. When the first test begins, you will be required to remain in the monitoring room at the academy."

They all nodded. "Very well, see you all in two weeks. Dismissed!" They all stepped out of her office, Neji closing the door behind him.

As the instructors collectively walked down the hall, Kiba began musing, "Hey Chouji, want to meet up for a spar against our teams?"

Chouji opened another bag of chips from his pack, "Sure-"

Neji looked back at the two, now in the middle of the group, "That might not be such a good idea. Preparing them might be a great thought – but having them fighting each other to get a grasp of each other's abilities might not be."

Kiba looked confused, "How so?"

Sakura, ahead, looked at Naruto knowing he was probably thinking the same thing, "Think about it, Kiba. It might be true that they've sparred against each other back in the academy, but now everyone has learned new things. Letting them spar against each other now will only make everyone's moves more predictable in the exams. Why not keep everyone away from each other so that they can be surprised at what the other person has up their sleeves. It makes the whole fighting your fellow nin all the more fun, right?"

The men behind at the back nodded in understanding. "Which is why," she turned to Naruto, "I don't want to see you until the Chuunin Exams start."

"Eh? Why, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, almost afraid she hated him.

"Because, I plan on teaching my students some new things and I want to make it a surprise for all the other kids."

"Hm. In that case, I don't want to see any of you all until the exams either," Neji smirked and nodded more to himself. They all stood in the middle of the street now, which was beginning to empty at this hour of the night.

"Same here; I guess we won't see each other for the next two weeks then," Kiba noted.

"Then it's settled," Chouji nodded, "But how about we get some yakiniku first before we put this temporary farewell into effect?"

It was just their luck to have stopped right outside said restaurant, and they all agreed. "One thing's for sure. We're all going to have to avoid Ichiraku for the next two weeks."

"EH!? You guys are so mean!"


	16. Sharp Eyes

**Chapter**: 16

**Author's Note**: I'm working on a new fic and doing other things at the same time. :)

Two weeks until the Chuunin exams. She had to prepare her students, and with that thought she lifted herself out of bed to get ready. It was a little past 10 before she showed up at the bridge where her team awaited. Ryuu narrowed his eyes, "You're early." It's not like she had anything to be guilty about, right? "Because I know you guys can't get enough of me."

Kurogane nearly fell at the lame comeback. Sakura looked at her team once Kurogane recovered, "I have something for the three of you," she fished out three slips from her pouch and held it out to them. They stared curiously at it. "These are agreement slips for the Chuunin exams."

"WHAT!" Kurogane and Ryuu all but exclaimed. Sakura chuckled lightly and waited until they each grabbed a slip. "Last night I nominated the three of you for the exam. If you want to enter, you'll have to do it as a team; if all three aren't signed, you won't be admitted. Is that clear?"

They nodded. "Now the question is do you three want to do it – the Chuunin exams?" The boys looked at the paper, then at Sakura, and finally at each other. They turned back to her and nodded, "Yes!"

Sakura smiled proudly, "Good. In that case, I'm going to spend the next two weeks drilling you; preparing you mentally and physically for the tests. We'll go over the basics and more until we're satisfied. It will be tough and painful, but if you want to pass the exams then it will be worth it. Are you in?"

"YES!"

Her smile remained, "Good, let's head over to the training grounds and we'll start right away." With that, team 12 spent day, night, and all their free time in between going over the basics and working on higher level skills and techniques. After reaching the adequate amount of missions, Sakura refrained from accepting anymore D-ranks so that they could focus on training and preparing.

It wasn't until the fifth day into their training that Sakura took them all to the local aquarium which also housed a training area for medics. Originally she had only thought of bringing Miyabi here, but she realized the other two could also learn about a medic's job even if they couldn't do the techniques themselves.

"Here we are," she opened the door to the back room and let them in, "this is where I first trained as a medic." She closed the door behind them and beckoned them to the center of the platform in the middle of the small pool. "Wait here," she went beyond the pond and took three scrolls off the shelf. Back on the platform, she set the bigger scroll in the center and rolled it out on the table.

"This is the written seal for healing. Miyabi, you'll be using this to heal the fish that have run out of oxygen." Miyabi nodded. Sakura took the second scroll and handed it to Ryuu, "You two should read that, it's the basics of healing and what a medic is entitled to do. Although you won't be healing, you should still learn. If you want, I can teach you the most basic healing just in case something happens to Miyabi." The boys nodded.

"This," she held out the last scroll, "contains hand signs for basic healing, you should learn this after you've successfully revived some fish with the written seals." Miyabi pocketed it. "Good, now then," Sakura moved over the grab a net and snagged a fish out of the water. She brought the net closer to her and took its breath away. Presumably "dead" she placed the still fish in the middle of the scroll.

"This fish at the moment is no longer living. What you have to do is complete these signs and then channel chakra into your palms, not the fighting kind but one of gentler nature. Imagine using your chakra to heal, and then steadily channel it to your palms and out," she instructed. Miyabi copied the signs and then closed his eyes and tried to picture healing like he had seen Sakura do in the past. Slowly his hands began to glow light green. "Good."

Miyabi opened his eyes to see what he had accomplished. "Now you need to push your chakra into the fish's system and try to revive it. Watch," Sakura's hand glowed and hummed, she placed it on top of the fish where its organs were located. She pushed her chakra into it in a steady stream to stimulate its heart and lungs. It didn't take long before its eyes cleared and it began flapping. With a push it was sent back into the water.

Sakura fished out another one and "killed" it. Placing it on the table told Miyabi to do what she just did. Nodding, he did the signs again and his hands glowed and hummed. He placed it on top of the fish and pressed his chakra in. It took him a bit longer but eventually it came back to life in a couple of minutes. "That was good for a first try, Miyabi. My friend Ino took a couple minutes longer on her first try."

Grinning, she put the fish back into its "death" state and had Miyabi revive it. "Remember Miyabi, there are injuries of various kinds, which means healing and chakra usages will vary. Knowing the cause and finding the target will make it easier on you and the patient when healing them."

Ryuu and Kurogane watched in awe as their friend brought the fish back to life. Sakura turned towards them, "And you two should remember that healing takes time, a lot too depending on the damage of the victim. Since I won't be with you when you enter the exams, should one or even two of you be injured and need healing you should think carefully and take the wisest choice. Fighting battles and winning is important, but it means nothing if it costs the life of your comrades."

The last fish revived and flapped its way back into the water. Sakura looked at her students sternly, "Remember this: those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Am I clear?" They all nodded. "Good, now let's get some food and we'll keep practicing on other things, alright?"

Training continued and the boys would return home each day aching and tired. Immediately they would go for their beds, forgoing food or even a shower – they would do that after they woke. The next morning at an ungodly hour they would wake up to the sound to various alarms and begin their morning exercise and stretching routine. Sakura had taken it upon herself to attach weights for muscle training.

It would be another three days before Sakura decided to surprise them all with gifts. "Alright brats, gather around," she suddenly said one day after practice. She took out a scroll and rolled it out. On the parchment were three similar looking summoning seals. Biting her thumb she did the signs and recalled the items locked within.

"Curious, aren't you?" Sakura grinned. "This," she held out a long object wrapped in cloth, "is for you, Kurogane." He untied the string to find himself staring at a katana. "Whoa..." Next she pulled out a set of teethed blades, "This is for Ryuu." He took them and looped his fingers around the gap in the weapon.

And finally, she pulled out a pair of finger-less gloves and handed them to Miyabi, "These are for you." Miyabi accepted them and instantly slipped them on. She looked at all of them, "It isn't much, but I thought they would suit your styles fittingly. I hope you like them." Her students merely stared at her before hugging her in a "Thank you," except Ryuu wasn't all that affectionate about it. Not to say he didn't like the present.

"I can't really teach you all how to use them, but I will teach you the basics. For the time being, I would prefer it if you didn't use them for the Chuunin exams," they gave her disappointed looks, "Only because it's dangerous to use something you're entirely comfortable with. It's best to stick to what you know. Afterward you can use them as much as you like. So, what do you say we get started on breaking in those gifts?" She received enthusiastic nods.

"But you better not literally ruin them; I spent a good portion of my last pay check on those!" She pouted to add in the empty threat. They would make sure nothing would intentionally happen to them – after all, they were gifts from their beloved sensei.

They spent the next couple of days practicing with their new weapons, except for Miyabi who now focused on healing without using hand signs. While he sat underneath a tree concentrating, Sakura was doing a two-on-one spar against Ryuu and Kurogane. By now Ryuu was capable of manipulating chakra into his blades. Because his nature was fire, whenever his blade made into contact with something it would burn that object. Of course, this spar was no chakra. Meanwhile, Kurogane had learned to wield the katana properly from Ten-Ten, and had decided to develop a style to use it with only one hand.

Practices like this continued on for the rest of week with the occasional break to receive lessons from different specialists. Before anyone realized it, two weeks had flown by. It was now the day of the exams, and the boys woke up early for their daily routine. They returned home to shower and change into fresh clothes. Miyabi checking and double-checking to make sure they had everything – especially the slips – they left their small shared apartment and departed for the academy.

Outside the gate, Miyabi looked between his friends and nodded, "Remember what Sakura-sensei told us yesterday."

"_Alright, that wraps up our training. Before I dismiss you, I'll give you some last words." They boys, collapsed on the floor, sat up and leaned forward. "Always look underneath the underneath; things aren't always what they seem, you might see something you never thought of seeing before." They nodded._

"_Expect the unexpected; never let down your guard, keep your senses open. It's possible to see with more than just eyes."_

"Are we ready?" Ryuu looked at his friends.

"Can we do this?" Miyabi asked.

"Will we pass?" Kurogane asked with a smirk.

"Hell yeah!" they exclaimed before entering the building.

The travelled up the stairs and eventually came to an open hallway with lots of people surrounding blocked doors. "Hey, let us through!" and other similar shouts were coming from the doors. Miyabi jumped up and down trying to see what was going on. The crowd scattered a bit and eventually team 12 saw a pair of guards – with the Konoha headband – in front of a door that was labelled 305.

"We are the gatekeepers. If you don't defeat us, you can't pass," one said.

"If you can't pass, you can't enter the exams," the other said.

"Which means you'll fail," together at the same time they smirked.

Many people voiced their opinions, making it clear they were upset about this. Team 12 silently watched as several people tried to gang up on the gatekeepers, but none succeeded. Miyabi took a good look at them and cocked his head to the side, "Where have I seen these guys before…" he mumbled mostly to himself. The other two heard him and waited for Miyabi to sort out his thoughts.

Recognition dawned on Miyabi, "Ah!" he pulled his friends closer to him "I know who they are," he whispered. Ryuu waited for more, "These guys are gatekeepers alright, for the gate that leads out of the village. They're always there when we go and come back, Sakura-sensei knows them!"

Kurogane glanced at the occupied gatekeepers, "Now that you mention, they sort of look similar, though not exactly alike." Ryuu nodded, "So is this a genjutsu then?" He turned to Miyabi for confirmation. "Yes, most likely, do you remember how many flights we went up? It couldn't have been more than one. So we're probably on the second floor."

Ryuu, "Alright then, let's dispel the illusion on ourselves only," he glanced at the crowd, "if they can't realize it themselves, then they've already failed the exams." His friends nodded and together they dispelled the genjutsu. To them, the room number now read 201, but to the rest, it was still 305. Quietly they retreated back to the stairs and continued on to the next floor – to the real 305. From the monitoring room Sakura smiled a little, proud that those three managed to make it through the unofficial first test.

"It's a good thing they passed," Shikamaru said behind her holding a cup of coffee.

Sakura nodded, "But I can't relax just yet, they still have the rest of the test ahead of them."


	17. Protective

**Chapter**: 17

**Author's Note**: When was the last time I updated? I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting. If there's even anyone still reading this. I've got to go back and make some grammar changes to the chapters. Hm. Enjoy this for now.

The first part of the actual exam ended swimmingly. The boys met up with the other genin teams and after a short while they were seated separately around the room. Because they had no bloodline limit, they put their brains to the test. Well, Miyabi did. As he was the one sitting up front, the other two relied mostly on his reaction to the test. Of course Ibiki was the proctor for this year's exams as well. So it was the exact same test Sakura had taken when she went through the exams the first time around. Same rules, same sheet of questions.

Miyabi read through the questions first and realized there was no way any genin would know the answers to these questions much less finish them in an hour. Thinking deeper, he noticed the chuunins lined against the wall were there for the sake of catching them cheating. So really, they just had to cheat without being caught.

"_Look underneath the underneath."_

He stared past Ibiki and straight at the board with the rules. The tenth question would be given out last. So really, the last question was important if it was going to come last. He stared down at his paper, _'which means these questions have no actual significance.' _He set down the pencil in his hand and flipped the paper over, shaking his head for extra effect knowing his teammates scattered behind him would see. And they did, Ryuu and Kurogane also set down their pencils and waited for the last question.

And true to his suspicions, when the last question came around, it was a matter of stay or leave; one for all, all for one. Of course, listening to their sensei's words, the boys figured it was another ploy to see if they'd fail the exam. They stayed and ended up passing this portion, as did the rest of their comrades. However, their pride was slightly dampened when Anko busted her way in (again) and noticed more than half the room was still here. This only inclined her to act more sinister and vocally promise to cut the examinees down to a third by the end of the second portion.

Without much chance for rest, the students were whisked straight to the restricted zones, right outside Forest number 13. Sakura, from the recording room, was more than surprised to find out the exams were the same every year. Her boys were given the Heaven scroll and sent to gate number 30 to await entrance. They had 4 days to snag an Earth scroll from a team and make it to the central tower together. No complete team or complete pair of scrolls equalled an automatic fail. Before the gate opened, Miyabi made sure they finished their stretches because it would be a straight race into the middle.

Ryuu checked his weapons pouch twice over while Kurogane rewrapped the bandages around his limbs and over the weights. Not a minute later and the gates sprung open and each team rushed through. "If possible, I'd like to avoid fighting our comrades," Miyabi mentioned in a slightly sad tone. He'd like it if everyone they knew passed as well. A couple kilometres in the forest, they happened upon creatures they'd never like to see again. The boys were honestly shocked to find these things existed in Konoha territory, especially so close to the village. They had no actual interaction with the beasts but watching a giant rat run across the ground followed by an even larger snake slither after it was enough to drain the blood from their bodies.

It wasn't long after that they encountered their first enemy, and Miyabi was the first to sense it, "Genjutsu." Dispelling the technique, the boys hid and prepared themselves for the enemy. The first to attack was a male, slightly older and obviously bigger than themselves, who charged at Miyabi. Miyabi quickly dodged and back-flipped out of harm while keeping his eyes on his attacker '_Keep your eyes open and watch for his habits._'

"Hand over your scroll," said the other people from the enemy team. Ryuu noted that this team came from Iwagakure. Sucking his teeth in annoyance, he realized this meant he'd have to keep this fight mostly airborne if they planned to survive. The boys formed a triangle formation with Miyabi and Ryuu in the back. Nodding to each other, Miyabi slipped his hand into his back pouch pulling out several senbon – convenient things they were – coated in a paralyzing poison.

The battle didn't last very long because obviously they were being underestimated. Kurogane was the first to charge forward after the supposed leader which left Ryuu with the girl and Miyabi with the other guy. Ryuu, noted that this girl acted more like a kunoichi than a girl her age and decided to fight seriously. Relying on his legs, he delivered several kicks and an occasional punch to her upper body. Eventually when his chakra-laden blades slashed through her earth techniques and nearly sliced her arm off. Only then did she decide was fair time to back away.

Meanwhile Miyabi was constantly dodging her teammate, and it was beginning to irk the enemy. Miyabi kept a good distance away while watching his every move. His opponent tended to use his arms and relied more on this left side than his right. There were bandages wrapped around something bulkier on his calves; those might be weights which meant the opponent is faster than he lets on. '_Better finish this quickly._' His opponent was starting to lose his patience, '_Good, the more emotional he gets, the more predictable his attacks._'

His opponent disappeared from sight. Miyabi waited until the last moment before jumping away, "**_Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu_**_,"_ the enemy shouted. Just as Miyabi jumped up into the air he flicked his senbon at his enemy and two of them struck his arm. Now it was only a matter of minutes before his enemy fell to a heap on the floor. Assuming the senbon managed to pierce his skin that is.

With Kurogane however, he was having a slightly harder time – not to say he didn't enjoy the battle however. Anticipating, blocking, and returning blows excited him. His opponent was obviously bigger than him by at least a foot but height didn't necessarily determine everything. Kurogane was stronger than the others and that allowed him to deal heavier blows, he also took advantage of the weights on his limbs and used them to deal extra damage to the other guy. It was long before the Iwa-nin realized he just might be slightly out-matched in terms of strength. Backing away the Iwa-nin glanced towards his teammates realizing they were having just as much trouble. Sucking his teeth in annoyance he realized one of them was even paralyzed. "Wait," He said while sheathing his weapons away, "We've lost."

The Iwa-nin re-grouped and the female pulled out their Heaven scroll from her top. She left it on the ground, "It's yours." And with that they left the clearing immediately with their paralyzed member. A couple minutes later when Ryuu deemed it safe that no one else was near, they picked up the extra Heaven scroll and Kurogane stored it in his back pouch. "This isn't exactly the scroll we wanted," he frowned slightly.

Ryuu narrowed his eyes slightly and glared at his friend at the obviousness behind the whole situation. Miyabi then decided it was best to speak up before either of them started a fight, "But at least now even if we have to handover a scroll we'll still have a chance at completing this round." Kurogane nodded in understanding and the group continued their travels further into the forest.

It wasn't until the second day when they ran into a team from Kirigakure. However like themselves, they were also a younger genin team. Despite being similar ages, Ryuu didn't dare underestimate his opponents; for all he knew they could have been under henge. A couple of jutsus were exchanged, one them being **_Suirou no Jutsu_**, surprisingly enough. However the boys managed to defeat this team albeit with some difficulty. They claimed their prize the Earth scroll before heading further into the center. After reaching a clearing they set up traps and alarms before setting underneath the space uplifted roots of a tree created. Miyabi took this time to heal his comrades while Kurogane gathered firewood and Ryuu went to fetch water.

They took turns taking watch while the other two slept and before they knew it, it was the third day. Together, they decided they would use this day to run and reach the tower before nightfall. It had been an easy road as no one had really crossed their paths the entire day and they managed to reach the central tower shortly after sundown. When they entered through the pair of doors they came into an empty hallway with a poem framed on the wall.

Miyabi then pulled out both scrolls, opened them, and tossed them away before the person on the other end was summoned forward. A jounin they didn't recognize, but knew belong to the leaf, congratulated them on passing the second round. This jounins explained the importance of the poem behind him before leading the young genin into the bigger room down the hall. In this grand hall they were told to wait and for further instructions.

Miyabi and his team sat along the eastern wall and kept mostly to themselves, thinking about what would happen next. It was long before they started taking turns having light naps. Ryuu however spent most of his time watching the other occupants of the room, taking note of each of them. A couple hours later and their stomachs began growling. "Should have filled up on fish if we were going to arrive today," Kurogane muttered before Miyabi reached into his pack and pulled out some onigiri – which surprisingly were still intact. Ryuu pulled out the canteens of water and Kurogane brought out some soldier pills and blood replenishment pills. They ate their meals in silence and began taking turns sleeping again. By the fourth day they started playing word games with each other just to keep themselves occupied. Slowly their other comrades filtered into the room. At the end of the day Anko appeared in to room with a plume of smoke announcing that the test was now over and those remaining in the room were the only ones that successfully passed.

However, she was still lightly miffed that so many remained. It didn't take long before the Hokage herself, followed by the jounins teachers, showed up. Nursing a slight headache, Tsunade explained that they were going to hold one on one matches to reduce the numbers even further before the final portion of the exams. The names would be selected via a randomization program in the computer and the proctor would be Shikamaru. The teachers met up with their students and ascended to the upper floor to await their match.

The boys were excited to finally see their sensei again and could help but start rambling off on their experience so far with the exam. Sakura was proud with each and every one of them for doing so well. "I'm glad you remembered your teamwork," she said, giving each of their heads a ruffling. Ryuu grumbled and tolerated it this time around, but he promised he'd smack away her hand next time. She then pulled out three packed lunches from behind her and gave them to her students, "Can't have you fighting on an empty stomach, right?" Was all she said before the boys gave their thanks and started chowing down.

Next to her, Naruto's team was experiencing the same sort of treatment. While they still had time to rest, both of their teams sat together and shared their stories. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at Hiro's wild gestures recounting the creatures they had seen in the forest. With 5 minutes remaining before the matches started Sakura checked up on her brats and once deeming they were okay to fight, she stepped back and leaned again the wall.

The first few matches were mostly Neji and Chouji's team versus the foreign ninja. Shiro, Mizashi, and Taki won, however Michiko and Uru lost. As for Ikuto, when he was pitted against Murasaki from Kiba's team, he ended up losing because he went easy on her. Murasaki wasn't happy, and was more than glad to demonstrate the ferociousness she picked up from her sensei.

Kurogane and Ryuu ended up fighting Sho and another foreign ninja respectively, and Sakura was impressed with her boys when they won. Miyabi ended up fighting against Kisuke, and Kisuke quickly lost his patience when Miyabi dodged all of his attacks. While dodging he began to set up a genjutsu and it didn't take long before his fellow comrade was ensnared in it. Shikamaru, wishing he was on a hill and not judging brats called the match to an end – declaring Miyabi the victor when Kisuke remained caught in the illusion.

Kiba flashed on to the main floor and brought his student out of the illusion, patting his head telling him that he had lost. Kisuke clenched his teeth before walking up to Miyabi. Sakura walked forward and gripped the railing, not sure if she should go down there, but she was sure Kiba wouldn't let anything happen. Kisuke stopped in front of Miyabi and offered out his hand, "You've improved Miyabi, my opinion of you has changed. I'm not happy that I lost, but I'll accept my defeat like a man." Miyabi smiled genuinely before shaking his comrade's hand and heading back up to the second floor while discussing his training with him.

Three hours later, 36 genin were reduced to 18 for the third round and they all gathered back on the main floor for Shikamaru's next announcement. The final portion would be held a month from now, so they had that much time to train and prepare for the final portion which consisted of one on one matches at the Konoha stadium.

After being dismissed, Sakura took her team out for a meal well earned before parting with her boys, promising a gruelling training session in the morning. And true to her words when morning came, the boys took on a new type of training. For the entire month it was mostly Sakura versus her genin team with several spars throughout the morning, individual training in the afternoon, and then apply that training in an every-man-for-themselves spar in the evening. On top of that Sakura had added additional weights to their limbs since they had gotten used to the previous weight. With three laps around Konoha before dawn and two more before sleeping team 12 treasured the sleep and meals they could get.

At times during their training, Sakura would be called to the hospital for emergencies leaving them to train on their own. She'd always turn and give them the 'I'll-know-if-you-slacked-off' look before disappearing, scaring her students into continuing their training instead of just sprawling out on the grass. To say Sakura was a total Sparta for the entire month would be an absolute understatement. However their training did have an up-side; every week Sakura would start off by teaching them jutsus she thought would suit them well. And then they'd practice this jutsu in their training, on top of chakra control exercises, and hand-to-hand combat.

By the end of the month, team 12 had exercised their brains and bodies to the max. On the last day of training when they met up at the bridge, they were more than ecstatic to find out that they wouldn't be training. Instead, Sakura had taken them to the hot springs. When they arrived the other genin teams were also there with their teachers.

The boys and girls went their separate ways to enjoy the soothing hot waters. It wasn't long before conversations started drifting over the bamboo wall. Most of the conversation on the boys' side consisted of jutsu talk, training, and the cruelty their teachers imparted on them. Meanwhile the girls talked about training, their aspirations, and the stupidity of their male teammates.

"Naruto-sensei can be so obtuse sometimes! And it's not just him, Akiba and Hiro are equally as such if not more! I can never get anything through their skulls!" Akane complained at one point. The boys on the other side quieted down to hear the conversation.

A chuckle carried over the fence, "Naruto's always been like that. And if Akiba and Hiro turn out anything like him, they'll only get worse as they get older," Sakura told the young girl.

Akane's eyes widened, "You can't be serious Sakura-sensei!" And then Sakura's eyes lighted with mirth, "When Naruto was your age, there was this girl who had a crush on him. He never noticed because he isn't exactly the brightest bulb of our bunch. Actually, I think he only recently realized it." Akane gasped in utter shock, "You can't be serious! I knew he was obtuse, but to not know that a girl's been likely you since forever is just horrible!" Akane accused.

On the other side Naruto's ears turned bright red and he was about to scratch his head in that manner of his before he noticed Neji's slight glare and decided it was back to best away from his friend.

"Well, Kisuke and Sho aren't any different. They're the rowdiest of our group, and a day never goes by when they don't fight. It's like watching the old ladies at the market fight over the last carton of eggs of whatever. It's ridiculous!" Murasaki joined in on the conversation. Sakura smiled and supplied, "Boys will be boys." The younger girls turned towards each other, "Don't you wish sometimes we could have been an all kunoichi team, with Michiko and and Miyuki. And Sakura-sensei could totally be our sensei. And we'd learn awesome stuff and beat the boys to a pulp."

The younger girls nodded in consent, "Uru and Taki have really big egos. It gets a bit stifling when we're all together in one room. But luckily Neji-sensei is there to lessen it," Michiko stated.

At this Neji's chest inflated slightly.

"But his ego is just as big sometimes and then he starts challenging them, and then Neji-sensei just doesn't seem so awesome anymore."

Neji deflated and Naruto and Kiba laughed at him.

"Even back when we were genin, Neji was quite arrogant, but Naruto beat some it out of him. But that's what makes Neji… Neji," Sakura commented.

"Your teammates at least sound saner than mine. Tetsu and Raiko are totally training nuts and it doesn't help that Lee-sensei is one himself. He's always going on about doing 500 laps around Konoha if he fails at something, not that isn't great motivation to succeed the first time, but you have to admit it's slightly ludicrous. On top of that Tetsu and Raiko try to meet his goals, and I was this close to having three green spandex 'beasts' on my time. I'm sorry but Lee-sensei is more than enough," Miyuki said, finally glad to get that off her mind.

On the other side Lee's team deflated, but Lee was taking it the harshest. Chouji patted his shoulder to try and console his sulking friend.

The girls looked towards the only adult in the room, "Sakura-sensei, I bet you don't have trouble with your team."

"Well," Sakura scratched her cheek, trying to think of something to pacify the girls, "Ryuu, Kurogane, and Miyabi work really well together as a team."

Her boys on the other side swelled with pride, the other boys glared on.

"But they each have their own quirks."

The boys' earns sharpened.

"For instance, Ryuu really isn't honest with his feelings. He doesn't know how to show certain emotions he feels so he'll act all mean and rude. But he really means the opposite."

Ryuu's face flushed, but he blamed it on the heat of the water.

"How can you tell," Akane asked, "He always seemed so stoic like he wanted to be left alone when we were in the academy."

"Easy, I can tell by his eyes, his facial expression and his body language. Like when I ruffle his hair like this," she ruffled Akane's for example, "Naruto does this to you guys too right? And what do your teammates do?"

"They swat his hand away and grumble something about being 'big boys already so stop treating us like kids'," she replied.

"Exactly, Ryuu does the exact same thing with me, telling me to stop treating him like he's 5. But you know what, even though he says that, the rest of him says differently. He'll glare at me, but his eyes don't mean it; his eyes tell me that he misses being treated like a child. His facial expression would be a sneer, but the twitch in his cheek tells me he's trying not to grin. And when he smacks my arm away and crosses his arms across his chest, he doesn't smack my hand hard and he's trying to keep himself from hugging me those arms."

"Wow," the girls resonated. And Ryuu just sunk his head underneath the water while his friends snickered at him, and the teachers chuckled at Sakura's perceptiveness.

"What about Kurogane, he's always so loud and boisterous, like Naruto-sensei. And sometimes he can be all mean and cruel like Neji-sensei."

"Well, Kurogane's sort of like a mix between Naruto and Ryuu. He's say the first thing that comes to mind, and acts without thinking first. That much is similar to Naruto. But what goes through his mind won't necessarily come out the same way from his mouth. He's really good, and wants to act like the rest of you guys, but maybe because of the way he grew up he didn't have a chance to learn how to do that."

The girls looked thoughtful, "I guess you're right, Sakura-sensei. Kurogane seemed to act a lot more like his age during the second portion of exams. I've never seen him act that way before. At least it looks like he's enjoying himself now. Did you change him?"

The boys looked at Kurogane and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"I don't think so. I might have, but I think Kurogane made the change himself. Perhaps he realized it was okay to act like a boy, have fun, and do all the things kids your age should be doing. He doesn't have to shut out the rest of the world to survive."

The girls nodded. "Miyabi seems to have changed too. He's different that he was before, a lot different."

"Well, haven't your teammates changed too? Now that you're in a team, you've realized that you're not only responsible for your life anymore right?"

The girls nodded, "Miyabi realized that too, and he's learning how to use medical jutsu to protect his friends. He's realized what's important to him, that being his team, and he's willing to do anything to keep them safe. I think that's the best part about Miyabi."

The girls nodded again. On the other side of the fence Miyabi's face brightened at the praise he was receiving. The girls continued their conversation and the men lost their interest until the conversation took a different turn.

"Sakura-sensei, you're very beautiful and strong, I want to be just like you when I grow up!" Akane exclaimed. The girls were more than happy to join in on that. Sakura laughed lightly, glad that little girls wanted to be like her when they were older.

"But seriously sensei, how do you get them so big!" Akane added, and for a second Sakura wondered if Naruto's perversion was rubbing off on his team.

On the other side Naruto plugged his ears and starting chanting, "I can't hear, I can't hear!" while the other teachers coughed and looked anywhere but at the fence or their students.

"They're not that big, at least compared to the Hokage's," Sakura said, trying to change the subject but failing miserably. "Godaime's are of a whole different rank. But compared to other kunoichi yours are pretty big…" Michiko noted.

"Well," Sakura realized she wouldn't be getting away from this topic, "I guess you just need to eat healthy." The girls stared down at their chests and looked back up at Sakura like they didn't believe her.

The senseis closed their eyes trying to focus on battle strategies or something.

And then suddenly there was a yelp and a splash of water as the girls decidedly lunged at the only adult on their side. "It's not fair! I want to hurry and grow up! I want to be a sexy kunoichi too!"

Sakura managed to calm them down, "That's nice and all, but it comes with consequences, too. You don't have to rush. But I can tell you two things," Sakura said and the girls looked up at her hopefully. "One, drink lots of milk, and two, if we continue talking the boys are going to run away." She pointed her thumb towards the fence.

And true to her words the senseis had fled the bath, not wanting to hear anymore of this obviously uncomfortable topic. However, the younger boys were still in the bath and team 12 were fighting with the others, refusing to let them even near the fence. Sakura chuckled noting the splashing and arguing and motioned for the girls to leave the bath since they were beginning to prune up.

After Sakura and the girls dressed and left the hot springs, they met the boys in the lobby. The sensei's coughed and looked everywhere but in their direction and the genin sported various bruises and light cuts. Sakura couldn't help but chuckle and motioned for her team to come to her as the girls rejoined their teams. She kneeled down to their level and gave them a once over. She put her cool hands on Kurogane's face and tilted it left and right to see if he was all right. Kurogane's ears turned red and grumbled that he was all right.

She moved on to Miyabi and noticed he was relatively injury free because he had chosen to opt out of the childish fight when he had the chance. She patted his head and moved on to Ryuu. She cupped his face and tilted it left and right like she did with Kurogane's. Ryuu sneered and glared at the wall beside him saying he was perfectly fine. Sakura sighed and smiled, putting her hand to his forehead and healing the slight bump he received from being head butted by Sho.

She stood up and satisfied with their conditions, ruffled Kurogane and Ryuu's heads. She didn't stop when they protested and only stopped when the others joined them and mentioned having lunch. Which ended up being a feast of grilled meat (and vegetables, Sakura pointed out when her boys salivated at the sight of the meat).

After the grand affair the teams parted ways and Team 12 eventually ended up at the market browsing from clothes to pouches to weapons. Sakura bought herself additional medical supplies; Miyabi a new set of clothes with lots of hidden places for vials and senbon; Ryuu an additional weapons pouch; and Kurogane a new set of binding and wraps. Sakura parted ways with her boys shortly and said she'll be watching their matches tomorrow. They bid each other good night. The boys returned to their home and prepared for the day after. Finally going to bed, they promised each other that they'd all make it to chuunin rank.


End file.
